Yu-Gi-Oh! ΔX
by Golden Keyblade
Summary: When Calvin, Hobbes, Susie, and Moe get sucked through a dimensional rift, they find themselves in a familiar new world where they'll have to duel to get by, get home, and maybe save a couple of worlds in the process. The official sequel to "Calvin's Quest"; part of The Omniverse Event.
1. Episode 00

**Yu-Gi-Oh! ΔX**

Episode 0: A Crease in Time

 **A/N: This story is part of the Omniverse Event. See my profile for more details on what that is, and how you can participate. This story is also the sequel to my standalone C &H story ****_Calvin's Quest_** **, but you don't necessarily have to read that story to read this one; any relevant details mentioned will be explained in-story. I'm also going to try to write it in such a way that you don't necessarily have to have watched** ** _Yu-Gi-Oh!_** **to read this story, but I recommend you check it out anyway because it's awesome. The rules of Duel Monsters will be explained in story, but are also all on the** ** _Yu-Gi-Oh!_** **wiki if you don't trust me to give an accurate summary.**

* * *

 **A message to Command**

 _The worst-case scenario has indeed come to pass. Rifts are spreading across the universes faster than we imagined. Tell Home Base to dispatch all available agents at once._

 _The Omniverse Event is under way._

* * *

 **Calvin and Hobbes Universe #00137  
** **Two months after the Quest**

As usual, it all started with Calvin being bored.

It was Sunday in mid-October, and Calvin and Hobbes had exhausted most of their usual activities: they'd had all the G.R.O.S.S. meetings one could reasonably have in a weekend (three); they'd thrown water balloons at Susie until they themselves got bored with it; and the Calvinball had gotten punctured and Dad hadn't yet replaced it. After the rush of excitement from the Quest across space and time and the ensuing fight with Nivlac in the Paradox Dimension, Calvin still wasn't quite used to having nothing to do, even after two months. So, in lieu of any other activities, the duo had resorted to their next favorite pastime: insulting fictional characters.

"Seriously, in what world is a card like that fair?!" exclaimed Hobbes, gesturing at the TV. "That's got to be the most broken thing in the whole series!"

As you may have guessed, Calvin and Hobbes were watching _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ reruns on TV. Calvin had discovered the show several months earlier and had quickly done an online marathon of the original series, _GX_ , _5Ds_ , and _ZEXAL_. Hobbes was watching the series for the first time; he'd caught up on Seasons 1-4 online, but when he discovered that a marathon of the "Dawn of the Duel" arc was airing on Cartoon Network that week, he decided he would watch it in person. A couple episodes ago, Bakura (the evil one, but not the _past_ evil one; the other evil one) had played a card that gave his monsters ultimate power through convoluted means. Hobbes had been complaining about it for quite a while.

"I dunno," remarked Calvin. "I'd say that giant snake Dartz had in Season 4 was pretty overpowered. Seriously, if the Pharaoh didn't have, like, _the exact combination of cards_ to defeat it, Dartz would have won. Besides, there's plenty more overpowered things in the future series; trust me, you haven't seen Number iC1000: Numerronious Numerronia yet."

"Yeah, I guess," admitted Hobbes.

On-screen, Yugi was down to the last card in his deck. He drew it was a great deal of tension.

"I swear," said Hobbes with a grin, "if that's Exchange of Spirit, I'm going to laugh so hard."

Sadly, it wasn't Exchange of Spirit; it was some dragon Hobbes had never heard of. Needless to say, it was also overpowered.

"I love this show," remarked Hobbes, "but I swear it's ridiculous with these card effects."

"Yeah," agreed Calvin. "If I had a couple of those in MY deck, I'd decimate. In fact, I probably would anyway!"

Calvin had discovered the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game (or, as he insisted on calling it, "Duel Monsters") shortly before the Quest. He had spent a not-insignificant portion of the intervening six months meticulously assembling a deck from the various packs he could convince Mom to buy at the store. Only what he considered "the best cards" could go in his deck and a bin of cards bought off eBay. He wasn't just throwing in Level 8 monsters without thought for sacrifices, either; he had studied the rulebook online and had spent a lot of time refining his "ultimate strategy" and practicing various combo moves. Hobbes had once remarked that if Calvin put half the effort he'd put into studying dueling into his schoolwork, he'd actually have a chance at getting an A. Calvin had slapped him in response.

"Seriously, the protagonists are all such beginners," remarked Calvin, flopping on the sofa with his drink (a delicious can of carbonated fruit juice). "Okay, so there are a bunch of OP cards, but that's usually just for the major villains! I mean, if someone like Weevil was a regional finalist, the people in that world can't be that good at the game! I mean, come on, Yugi doesn't even have Dark Hole in his deck! I could kick his butt in a duel, no problem!"

"Oh yeah," remarked Hobbes. "A six-year-old kid who learned how to duel from the Internet and has a deck made of booster packs versus a guy who possesses **all three** of the Egyptian God Cards. That sounds one-sided, alright."

Calvin grumbled. "Whatever," he muttered. "Yugi cheats anyway; he has the Pharaoh do all the work." He pulled his own deck out of his back pocket; he began to thumb through the cards, even though by now had totally memorized the contents.

His eyes landed on one of his favorite cards, Red Eyes Darkness Dragon; he couldn't help but smile on seeing that one. He admitted it had been a bit awkward when, halfway through the first season of GX, he had found out that it was the signature card of a major villain, but that honestly just made the card even cooler. Flipping to his Extra Deck revealed another of his favorite cards, Number 9: Dyson Sphere. The second he had seen this card in the anime, he had immediately run to his dad demanding he buy it. He'd even paid for it with his own money. Owning a monster that was larger than the sun, at least in the anime, appealed to Calvin on a fundamental level. Now he just needed a way to summon it, a bit of a problem since it required two Level 9 monsters, while he had precisely one. Still, for now just owning the card was enough.

Hobbes sighed. "Anyway," he said, as the episode cut to a commercial break, "this is getting kind of boring. Want to go throw water balloons at Susie again?"

"Nah," sighed Calvin. "You saw the conniption fit Mom threw the last time; I don't want my cards taken away again. Besides, Susie threatened to call the police last time, and I almost think she might do it." He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Why is this neighborhood so boring?!" he exclaimed. "At least the Quest kept us busy! I really hope something happens around here soon; I don't care what!"

It is a scientific fact that you should never, every say this. The universe absolutely loves this sentence, and will go to absurd lengths to screw with people who give it the opportunity. And this particular case was most certainly no exception.

 _BOOM!_

Without warning, there was the sound of an explosion that shook the entire house. Calvin and Hobbes leapt to their feet at once, partly in alarm and partly in anticipation of finally having something to do.

"What was that?!" exclaimed Hobbes.

"I don't know!" exclaimed Calvin. "I think it came from outside!"

The two leapt to their feet, Calvin shoving his deck into his back pocket, and sprinted for the front door. They quickly ran down the driveway, reached the sidewalk, turned left...and immediately saw the source of the disturbance.

"Oh," sighed Hobbes. "So it's going to be one of _those_ days, huh?"

"Looks like it," said Calvin.

Before them, hovering just above the sidewalk in front of Susie's house, was something that could only be described as a rift.

It was about seven feet long, running roughly up and down through thin air. Strange pink energy could be glimpsed within, and electricity arced from the rift to other nearby objects. It was like a wound in space: a jagged hole through which something impossible was leaking in...or perhaps leaking out.

Calvin and Hobbes ran up to it. Calvin pulled out a ballpoint pen, which was giving off strange noises at a high frequency.

"The Higgs scanner is off the scale!" cried Calvin. "This thing is giving off rare particles like they're going out of style!"

"But what is it?" asked Hobbes.

"How should I know that?" snapped Calvin. "It's not like I've seen something like this before!"

"CALVIN!" screamed a shrill female voice.

Calvin turned to see that Susie was sprinting up the driveway of her house towards the rift. She was out of breath, having clearly run all the way from her room to get to them.

"Oh great, and she's here too!" Calvin exclaimed with a facepalm. "That's _exactly_ what I needed right now: some girl sliming all over our investigation."

"What is this thing?" Susie asked as she arrived, panting, on the scene.

Calvin threw his hands up. "Why does everyone think I'm the one who has to know these things?!"

"Well...do you have any ideas?" asked Susie.

"Maybe," said Calvin ambiguously. "Why should I tell you?"

"Because if you don't, I'll tell both our parents that you were on my property again," said Susie, straightening up to look Calvin in the eye.

Calvin paused for a moment to consider this, as his hatred of Susie clashed with his fear of Mom. Eventually, fear won out.

"It's some sort of dimensional rift," he said, moving the scanner up and down as if that would reveal something new about it. "It's almost as if space and time have been somehow folded, causing two faraway points to slam into each other."

"What, like _A Wrinkle in Time_?" asked Susie.

"More of a crease than a wrinkle," said Calvin, not at all getting the reference or indeed realizing there was a reference to get.

"Wait a second," said Susie suddenly. "Did...did you somehow do this?"

"Why would you assume that?!" shouted Calvin. "Just because I have a time machine, that doesn't mean I'm responsible for every space-time anomaly in the universe! How would I even do this?!"

"Hey," snapped Susie, "two months ago you broke into my house, and when I chased you up to my room there was some rift thing that looked just like a tiny version of that thing there! I'm still trying to prove to myself that I'm not crazy for seeing that! And now here you are standing outside my house staring at a bigger one with your stuffed tiger, so can you blame me for thinking you may be involved with this?"

"Involved in what?"

Calvin moaned. He desperately hoped the voice that had come from behind him wasn't who he thought it was. He slowly turned around to see who it was...and there stood the man himself.

"What's this thing, Twinkie?" asked Moe.

As usual, the bully's hair fell into his eyes; how he managed to navigate anywhere was a mystery. He wore the same greasy clothes that he had worn every day since Calvin had first encountered him. Calvin wasn't even sure if he owned more than one pair of clothes.

"Something you wouldn't understand, no doubt," said Calvin.

"Is it dangerous?" asked Susie.

"Possibly," said Calvin with a shrug. "Now come on, Hobbes; let's go."

"Wait, where are you going?" cried Susie.

"To pack, duh!" exclaimed Calvin. "I can't exactly stay here now that this ignoramus knows where I live!"

Moe paused for what Calvin realized was probably a long blink. "You live around here?" he asked after a great deal of what passed for thought.

Calvin rolled his eyes. "Great," he said. "I'm missing the Dawn of the Duel marathon, there's a dimensional rift doing who-knows-what next door to my house, and now I have to deal with Annoying Girl and the Wonder Ape here on top of all that. I feel confident in saying this day could not possibly get any worse."

This, as Calvin quickly finds out, is another of those sentences that the universe just loves to hear people say and then immediately disprove.

Without warning, there was a pulse of energy from the rift. Suddenly there was an immense force, as if the vacuum of space had all at once decided to be located inside the rift. All four members of the group realized with horror that they were being sucked back into the rift. As they watched, reality seemed to distort, the rift somehow taking up more than 180 degrees of their field of vision.

" _What did you do?!_ " screamed Susie.

" **WHY AM I ALWAYS THE ONE WHO DID SOMETHING?!** " Calvin screamed back.

Those were the last things they said before the three humans and the tiger were sucked into the rift and vanished from their universe.

They wouldn't return for a very long time.

* * *

 **A/N: And there we have the premier! If you're wondering how the whole "rules bleeding between universes" thing is being used for this story, you'll start to see it next episode in a very literal way.**


	2. Episode 01

Episode 1: Welcome to Domino City! Part 1

The first thing Calvin aware of was lying on concrete. That was distinctly weird, since his last memory was of flying through a place in which there was no concrete, no atoms to compose concrete, and technically speaking not even any space for atoms to exist in. And yet here he was lying on concrete. His hope was that the rift had somehow deposited him back on the same patch of ground he had left; he knew that was about as statistically likely as being struck by seven bolts of lightning per minute for a year and then winning twelve lotteries simultaneously, but he had to believe it was possible. He had been exposed to the Luck Pillar only two months earlier, after all.

He opened his eyes...and immediately realized that he was not in the same place.

He was lying in an alley between two large buildings. There were a few garbage cans nearby, one of which was turned over, possibly from the force of their arrival. Near Calvin, a few feet ahead, Susie was sprawled face-down on the ground passed out. Moe and Hobbes were nowhere to be seen. One end of the alley ended in a wall, with a right-angle turn leading off to nowhere. The other end opened onto a busy street, where cars drove by and people walked quickly past the opening.

Calvin pulled himself to his feet. He supposed it was lucky that he had landed on a planet, let alone back on Earth in the middle of a city. But considering that he had just been sucked through a dimensional rift, he also figured luck was very much not a factor at the moment.

 _Okay_ , thought Calvin. _So the first priority is to not die; that hasn't changed. The second priority is to find Hobbes and get home somehow. But even if he landed in roughly the same place, odds are at the least he'll be somewhere else in the city. I probably can't do much on my own, so I guess I have no other choice._

Hating himself every step of the way, Calvin walked over to where Susie lay unconscious. He wasn't willing to touch her, so he just sort of nudged her arm with his foot.

Slowly Susie began to stir. She sat up, opened her eyes, and looked around. "Where...are we?" she asked.

"How should I know?" asked Calvin, rolling his eyes.

Immediately Susie leapt to her feet and rounded to glare at Calvin. "I am NOT in the mood for this!" she screamed.

"Hey, it's true!" exclaimed Calvin defensively. "We just passed through a dimensional rift! We could have ended up anywhere in the universe! We should just be glad we're still probably on Earth."

"Oh yeah?" challenged Susie. "And how exactly do you know so much about other dimensions? You can't even do chalkboard math problems!"

"Susie," sighed Calvin with patience he didn't actually have, "I built a time machine. I think I know what I'm talking about. Now come on, help me find Hobbes; with a bit of luck, he landed around here somewhere."

"Are you kidding?!" exclaimed Susie. "We just got sucked through some sort of freaky space thing and all you care about IS YOUR STUFFED TIGER?!"

"Well, it's not like you're being all that helpful right now," muttered Calvin. "Come on, we're wasting daylight."

Susie spluttered at him for a moment, then lapsed into frustrated silence as she reluctantly followed him.

"Now then," said Calvin, "the first step is clearly to figure out where we are. Judging by the trajectory of the sun, I'd say it's clear that we're in..." He pretended to do a few calculations in his head so as to appear like he knew what he was doing. "...Switzerland," he said finally.

"That's impossible!" protested Susie.

"Why?" asked Calvin, rolling his eyes. "Because we couldn't have traveled here faster than light? When you get sucked through a space-time rift, Einstein officially loses any right to tell you what to do."

"No," said Susie. "Because it's fall in the Northern Hemisphere, and it would be snowing- or at least cold- in Switzerland right about now. It's warm out."

Calvin blinked. Sure enough, it was a nice warm day, with barely a cloud in the sky.

"Clearly," said Susie, "we're somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere, where it's summer right now. My guess would be Australia, seeing as these cards are written in English."

Calvin's head whipped around. "Cards?" he asked.

Susie was bending down over the knocked-over garbage can. She held up a series of beat-up-looking paper cards, each featuring a brown background with a black vortex in the middle.

Calvin quickly reached over and took them. "Well," he said, "wherever we are, they clearly have _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ here." He frowned. "But," he added, "there's something weird about these cards."

"What's that?" Susie asked.

"The logo is missing," said Calvin. "Look at the backs of these cards. Normally there's a Konami logo in the top left and a ' _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ Trading Card Game' logo in the bottom right. They're both missing from these cards."

Calvin turned over one of the cards. He frowned: what he saw only made the mystery deeper. There was nothing particularly odd about the card; it was Magical Stone Excavation, a pretty standard Spell Card. But the serial number that usually told what pack the card had come in was missing. Furthermore, the bottom of the card, which usually said "(C) 1996 Kazuki Takahashi" now read "(C) 1975 Industrial Illusions".

"That's weird," remarked Calvin. "Industrial Illusions is the company that makes Duel Monsters cards in the _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ anime, at least in the original series and GX. But it doesn't exist in the real world. Unless..."

Calvin froze.

"What is it?" asked Susie nervously.

"Oh, I just got a HORRIBLE suspicion," said Calvin. He shook his head. "No, that couldn't _possibly_ be..."

"What?!" insisted Susie.

Calvin quickly grabbed Susie's arm, for a moment forgetting that he would never ordinarily tolerate physical contact with a girl, and pulled her out of the alley and into the street. If what he thought had happened really had happened, he knew what he would see. He turned right...

...and saw it.

He and Susie were looking at the downtown of a modern city. Most of the buildings were large glass-and-steel or concrete office buildings, the light reflecting off the windows and creating a dazzling display. People walked up and down the sidewalks, occasionally entering buildings or stopping to talk to one another. It could have been any big city on planet Earth...if it weren't for one big detail that hammered in how far Calvin and Susie were from home.

In the middle of town, dominating the skyline, was an immense building that appeared from a distance to be made entirely of glass panes. It was a strange shape, composed of lots of angular surfaces rising and narrowing until suddenly expanding outwards into a thick disk-like shape. Placed near the bottom of one of the legs of the tower was a familiar logo which resembled the letters "K" and "C" superimposed over each other.

It was unmistakably the KaibaCorp building.

"Okay," said Calvin quietly. "This could throw a wrench into our plans to get home."

"Why?" asked Susie, but before she got an answer Calvin yanked her back into the alley.

"Listen," he said. "We're currently in more than a little trouble, so it would be really great if we could find Hobbes before I went to the trouble of explaining it all."

"Explaining what?"

Calvin turned...and saw the first good thing he'd found since waking up. Hobbes was walking around the corner, looking tired but none the worse for wear. Calvin sighed in relief: if Hobbes was here, he was sure the two would be able to figure things out together.

Susie's reaction was...not so positive. At the sight of Hobbes, she let out an ear-bleedingly loud scream and recoiled around the corner.

Calvin ran forward and hugged Hobbes...or at least he intended it as a hug. It was more sort of awkwardly leaning into his stomach. "I can safely say I've never been more glad to see you, ol' buddy!" he exclaimed.

"I missed you too, Calvin," said Hobbes with a smile.

"Hey Twinkie," said a voice. "Why you talkin' to your dumb doll?"

Calvin let go of Hobbes and looked past him to see that Moe was also walking out of the alley.

"Great," muttered Calvin. "Kind of wished he'd been lost in the rift...or at least that it would've taken him longer to find us." He turned. "Hey Susie, what's wrong?"

Susie was shivering in absolute terror, peering around the corner of a building at the situation. " _Th-th-there's a tiger right there!_ " she exclaimed. " _And it's..._ _ **talking**_ _!_ "

"That's just Hobbes!" protested Calvin. "You've known him for..."

Then the full magnitude of what Susie had said hit him full in the face.

"Wait a minute!" he exclaimed. "You can _see_ him?!"

"OF COURSE I CAN SEE HIM!" screamed Susie. "IT'S A TALKING TIGER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ALLEY!"

"But...you couldn't see him any of the other times!" protested Calvin.

"Hi there," said Hobbes, rolling his eyes. "I'm 'Him' the Tiger, occasionally known as Hobbes. It's nice to get to meet you in person."

Calvin's mind was still reeling. He'd long ago realized that, while he could perceive Hobbes for what he truly was, most other people couldn't. Apparently unable to grasp the idea of a talking sentient tiger, their minds simply edited him out of their perception, perceiving him as a toy.

"Maybe it was the rift," Calvin mused, his mind racing with the possibilities. "You were exposed to something you thought was impossible, so your mind adjusted to new..." He shook his head. "No, that makes no sense! You saw the rift in your bedroom but you still couldn't see Hobbes afterward!" He turned to Moe. "And you!" he exclaimed. "You only see a stuffed tiger, right?"

"Uh...yeah," said Moe, who by this point had utterly lost any sense of what was going on.

Calvin shook his head. "This doesn't make any sense!" he exclaimed. "How can you see him but Moe can't? It should be both or neither!"

"Okay, hang on," Susie interrupted. "You're telling me that you've been hanging around...Hobbes here all this time and no one but you...and now me, I guess...can see him?"

"That's about the shape of it," said Calvin.

Susie considered this, finally stepping out from behind the building. "Okay," she said quietly. "Gonna need some time to process that."

"If that's the case, you might want to cover your ears for the next bombshell," said Calvin darkly.

"And what's that?" asked Susie nervously.

"I know where we are."

"Really?" asked Hobbes eagerly. "Where?"

"Domino City," said Calvin simply.

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Um...are you sure?" asked Hobbes. "Because I'm pretty sure that's the name of the city Yugi lives in. You know, the _fictional_ city."

"Exactly," said Calvin. "Between the weirdly printed cards, the dimensional rift, and the KaibaCorp building I saw out on the street...I'm almost positive that we've been somehow transported to the _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ universe."

If the silence before had been awkward, this one was absolutely mortifying, and lasted about three times as long.

"...this is a joke, right?" asked Hobbes. "You're trying to screw with me. I did something to annoy you, and now you're getting back at me with-"

"Sorry, Hobbes," said Calvin somberly. "I've never been more serious about anything in my life."

"Uh...hang on," said Moe. "Ain't that the one cartoon thing about the cards?"

"Technically it's an anime," said Calvin, "but yeah, that's the one. Either of you ever see it?"

"Nah," said Moe, still trying his best to look tough even though he was clearly freaked out. "I don't watch baby stuff."

"I saw a few episodes a couple years ago," said Susie, trying her best to remember. "But...you're saying we've been sucked _into_ the show?"

"Not exactly," said Calvin. "You see, our universe isn't the only one; in fact, my...sources have given me reason to believe there are an infinite number of universes. So it stands to reason that somewhere out there is a universe that's exactly like the _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ world. And unfortunately, that's exactly where we are now."

"But...you can get us back, right?" asked Susie hopefully. "I mean, you said you built a time machine, right? How much harder can this be?"

"A lot harder," said Calvin, launching into lecture mode. "See, the box- that's what Hobbes and I call the time machine, since I built it out of a cardboard box, and also a magical Pillar made by aliens but that's a totally different story- navigates through time-space, which is essentially a dimension that exists at right angles to our space-time continuum in which the properties of time and space are reversed, i.e. you can move freely in time but with limited control over your destination in space. With a sophisticated enough propulsion system, you can navigate time-space to any point in our universe. But this universe that we're currently in would have a completely DIFFERENT time-space from the one we originated from, separated from ours by the Void. And barring a trip to the Paradox Dimension and the use of alien artifacts, travel across the Void is impossible."

"But we got here somehow!" protested Hobbes. "The rift can obviously send us between universes!"

"I know that!" exclaimed Calvin. "But I have no idea how that's possible! It must have been some sort of freak accident: a sort of unstable wormhole which opened up for just a couple minutes, connecting the two universes!"

"Okay, then it's simple," said Hobbes. "You build a new time machine. We go back to the moment the rift spat us out here and duck back through before our past selves wake up!"

Susie, who was frankly still trying to wrap her mind around the talking tiger and the fictional universe, looked at Calvin. "Would that...you know, work?" she asked.

"Maybe," said Calvin thoughtfully. "It'd be risky; one wrong move and we'd create the second worst paradox ever to hit Domino City."

"What would the first be?" asked Hobbes, confused by this.

"Uh, Paradox, duh," said Calvin, rolling his eyes. "I need to catch you up to speed on the lore."

"So...do we have a plan?" asked Susie hopefully. "At this point I really have no idea what's going on."

"Yeah," said Calvin. "If we pull it off, Hobbes' idea is probably our best chance at getting home. But aside from the inherent risks, there's the small matter of building a new time machine. It's not like it's something I can reliably do; without the Imagination Pillar, I'm going to have to make all of the components from scratch. That'll require some seriously advanced technology."

"And where are you going to get that?" asked Hobbes.

"Oh," said Calvin with a small smile, "I have a couple of ideas."

"Okay, look," said Susie, suddenly leaping into the middle of the conversation. "I don't know anything about talking tigers or wormholes or other dimension or time travel, but I do know that we're all alone in the middle of an unfamiliar city. We need to find somewhere to stay."

"Hey!" snapped Calvin. "I'm the one with a plan to get us back, so that means I'm the leader, and as the leader I get to decide what we do!"

"Technically it's my plan," Hobbes pointed out. "Shouldn't that make me the leader?"

"Yeah, well, I'm the only one who can pull off the plan," countered Calvin. "Besides, you can't be the leader if a seventh of the group can't even see you!"

Susie blinked. "Wait...there are only four of us!" she protested. "And only Moe can't see him!"

"Yeah, well, I only count Moe as half a person," said Calvin.

"Hey!" snapped Moe, raising a pair of meaty fists.

"Oh, don't take it personally," said Calvin. "It's not an insult; I'm just 95% sure you're at least half gorilla."

"Oh...okay," said Moe, lowering his fists slightly, not quite sure how to take this.

"But...I'm a tiger," said Hobbes, not quite following the logic.

"Exactly," said Calvin. " _People_ status is reserved for individuals on the level of human or higher. You're higher."

Hobbes considered this for a moment, then decided to just take the complement and move on. "Fine," he said. "You're the leader; what's the plan?"  
"The plan," said Calvin, "is to find a place to stay. Come on, let's look for a hotel or something."

"Brilliant strategy," muttered Susie. She had been a part of Calvin's bizarre world for a grand total of five minutes and she already wanted out.

"Okay, hold on, Twinkie," snapped Moe. "Gimme one good reason I should listen to you and not just pound you into pudding right now."

Calvin turned and looked at Moe. "Do you have a family, Moe?" he asked.

Moe was so taken aback he actually answered. "Uh... yeah," he said. "My mom, my dad, and my little sis."

"Do you love them?"

Moe blinked. "Uh...I guess?"

Calvin walked up to Moe and, for the very first time since they had met, looked him dead in the eyes. "Then here's your reason," he said. "I'm your only chance of ever seeing them again."

And with that, he turned and stalked out of the alley. Surprised by this display, the other three followed him.

The group headed out into the city. Calvin had a feeling it wouldn't be easy, but he had a feeling that they would be able to find something.

 _After all_ , thought Calvin, _if we really are in a fictional universe, surely we've become main characters! My hair's crazy enough for me to be a_ Yu-Gi-Oh! _protagonist, and I do have a companion almost no one else can see! We'll find somewhere to stay in a heartbeat!_

* * *

 **Four-and-a-half hours later...**

"I can't believe it!" exclaimed Calvin. "That's the ninth hotel in a row that kicked us out! I don't get what we're doing wrong!"

"It's probably the fact that we don't have enough money," pointed out Susie.

"Oh, well _excuse me_ for not bringing the wallet that I don't have!" snapped Calvin. "Maybe if you guys carried more cash on you..."

But even Calvin had to admit that Susie had a point. Between Susie's allowance, the coins Moe had extorted out of the other kids at Calvin's school, and some money that Hobbes had managed to obtain from his mysterious pockets, the group had managed to come up with twenty-one dollars and seventy-nine cents. This, it sadly turned out, was not enough to get them a hotel room...anywhere, actually.

"Can we stop for a break?" asked Hobbes. "My paws are killing me from all this walking!"

"Just walk on all fours if it's that bad," said Calvin. "No one's going to see you. Now come on: we've got one more hotel to check out; I heard one of the guests in the lobby mention it, and it's not too far from here."

Ten minutes later, the four arrived at said hotel. It was a massive imposing structure, seven stories tall standing slightly apart from the buildings around it. Balconies protruded from its stone surface on the upper levels, and large neon letters over the front door proudly proclaimed its name: DUEL ESTATES.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Susie. "I mean...this place looks pretty high-end."

"We don't have any other option," said Calvin flatly. "At this point, it's all or nothing. You ready?"

"Yeah," sighed Susie. "Hopefully tenth time's the charm."

And with that, Calvin, Hobbes, Susie, and Moe walked up the steps and through the door of the hotel.

The inside was even fancier than the outside. The carpet was a rich green, and the elaborately wallpapered walls were covered with glass cases filled with Duel Monsters merchandise: rare cards, Duel Disks belonging to famous people, and so on. A man with brown hair and a green waistcoat was examining one of these cases with what appeared to be a great deal of fascination. Near the desk, a well-dressed couple were leading their bored-looking daughter toward the elevator, apparently headed to their room.

Calvin and the others walked up to the front desk. The humans among the group opened their eyes as wide as they could, attempting to look as innocent and pitiful as possible for the concierge. Hobbes just tried his best to look vaguely beat-up and worn.

"One room please, sir," said Calvin.

The bored-looking concierge behind the desk sighed. His hair was unkempt, and he had the classic look of a college student working a minimum-wage job in hopes of paying off his student loans. "Do you have money?" he asked. "Because we require an initial deposit at check-in."

Calvin reached down into his pocket, where he had the money stored. "Will this be enough?" he asked, widening his eyes as much as he could.

The concierge sighed again, took the money, and counted it up. "I'm sorry," he said, "but we require $200 down, plus $30 for every day after the first week. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Please, mister!" cried Susie. "We've been living on the streets for three days; we have nowhere else to go!"

The concierge looked at the group for a long moment. He blinked a couple times, then gave the longest sigh yet. "I'll have to go get the manager," he said. "I'll see what I can do." He stood up from the desk and walked through a door into what appeared to be an office.

"Okay," whispered Calvin, turning to the others. "This is already farther than we've gotten with most of the other hotels. Now we just have to hope the manager hears us out and we should be golden."

At that moment the manager walked out...and Calvin immediately knew they were not golden.

Just by looking at the guy, Calvin could tell he and the manager would not get along. Calvin's first thought was that the man looked like a turn-of-the-century industrialist: about forty years old with a thick handlebar mustache, a goatee, and a smug look in his eyes that perfectly conveyed a sense of calm and efficient arrogance.

"What is it you kids want?" he asked in a thick Midwestern- or whatever the equivalent was in this reality- accent.

Susie was stepping up to the plate on this one. She had somehow managed to make her eyes tear up, making sure to look as pitiful as possible. "You see," she said, "our parents brought us here to Domino City on a business trip. They wanted to give us a sort of mini-vacation, you know, to get the family back together after being so distant for so many years! But while they were driving to a meeting, they d-d-died in a car crash! We're all on our own, with no one else to turn to!"

"Sad story, kid," said the manager flatly. "Now what's that got to do with me?"

"Please, mister manager!" cried Susie. "We've been sleeping on the streets for days! Without our parents, we can't get back to our hotel, and our greedy relatives have managed to get hold of all the inheritance money! We have nowhere else to go!" Tears were now streaming down her face. "Don't you have a heart?!" she sobbed.  
Hobbes blinked. "Wow, she is a _really_ good actor," he said. "Remind me never to play poker with Susie."

The manager rolled his eyes, whether because he legitimately didn't care or because Susie had essentially recited the plot to the later books of _A Series of Unfortunate Events_ Calvin had no idea. "Listen, twerps," he said. "Larry here says you don't have enough money. And if you don't have money, you don't get a room. That's how the world works. Sorry for your loss, but it's not my problem. Now beat it!"

"But..." stammered Susie, still hoping she could save this situation.

"I SAID BEAT IT!" roared the manager in a voice that could have blown a hat off Susie's head. Susie let out a nervous squeak and ducked behind Hobbes.

"Sir, we have our brother with us," said Calvin, leaping in to try to breathe some life back into the act. "He's a bit... _special_ , if you know what I mean. He's honestly a danger to himself if left on his own."

"Hey!" snapped Moe.

"We're at the end of our rope trying to keep him safe," said Calvin. "Surely in a hotel room with lots of soft surfaces and no roads to wander into, he'd be..."

"Does he have any money stashed in those filthy clothes?" asked the manager.

"No..." began Calvin.

"Then my demand that you beat it stands!"

Susie stomped her foot in rage. "I can't believe you!" she screamed, apparently abandoning the act altogether. "In all my life, I've never met anyone who's such a stuck-up, unbearable, and all-around selfish jerk as you! _And I go to class with_ _ **Calvin**_ _!_ "

"Gee, thanks," muttered Calvin.

The manager (or, as Calvin had decided to dub him, the Manager) simply laughed at Susie. He started to turn away. Calvin knew their already-narrow window of opportunity was about to seal shut, and if he didn't want that to happen, he had do something fast. He'd come up with a plan earlier, but he'd been hesitant to use it. But with this being their last chance, he decided it was time for a desperate solution.

"I'll duel you for it," he suggested.

The Manager slowly turned back, as if unable to believe what he had just heard. "What?" he asked.

 _Well, now you've gone and done it_ , thought Calvin. _No turning back now_. He pulled his deck out of his back pocket and did his best to look casual while shuffling through the cards. "I happen to be something of a duelist," he said with a grin that he hoped to the Egyptian gods didn't look as nervous as he felt. "And I can tell from all the Duel Monsters merchandise in this lobby that you probably are too. So how's about we have us a little duel? You win, my friends and I walk out of this building and you'll never hear from us again. I win, you let us stay in one of your available rooms free of charge for as long as we want."

The Manager snorted, but Calvin noticed something of a glint in his eyes. "And why should I agree to a deal like that?" he asked suspiciously. "You win, I lose money; I win, I just get a couple minutes of peace and quiet."

Calvin shrugged. "Fine then," he said. "Don't duel me. I'll just stand around outside the door telling people about how you were scared to bet on your dueling skills in a duel against a six-year-old boy. That probably wouldn't be great for your reputation, but oh well." He turned theatrically. "Come on, guys," he said. "We've got work to do."

"Now hold on," said the Manager quickly. "You say you're a duelist?"

Calvin allowed himself a small smile. He knew the Manager's pride would get the best of him. He turned back. "Yeah," he said. "Back in my hometown, they called me 'Calvin the Bold'! Because, erm, I was so good at dueling. AM! _Am_ so good at dueling!"

"Smooth," said Susie, rolling her eyes.

The Manager walked out from behind the desk. Calvin gulped; he hadn't realized how tall the guy was. Calvin was short for his age, but this guy had to be six foot five at least. "Alright, kid, you're on," he declared. "Got a Duel Disk?"

 _Okay, so not such a foolproof plan after all_ , thought Calvin, sweat forming on his brow. "Erm...uh..." he said. "The thing is, I left mine in the...well, that is to say, it's back at...uh...what I mean is, er..."

"Here," said a voice behind him. "You can borrow mine."

Calvin turned in surprise. The man in the waistcoat who had been examining the wall display with such interest was now standing behind Calvin. He was holding out an original series-style Duel Disk: the angular silvery model that Calvin had seen so many times in the show. Calvin took it from him, staring at it reverentially, as if he had just been handed a slightly bulky Holy Grail.

"Oh," he said. "Uh...thanks, Mister..."

"Yuzen," said the man. "Richard Yuzen. But you can just call me Richard."

"Well then, thanks Richard!" said Calvin with an awkward smile. "I'm Calvin!"

The Manager sighed. "Let me go get my deck," he said. He walked through a door off to the side, apparently leading to a residential area.

Calvin watched him go, breathing a sigh of relief. They were by no means out of the water, but at least they now had a fighting chance. He turned back to Richard. "Seriously, thanks," he said. "You pulled my butt out of the fire on that one."

The man smiled back. He looked to be in his early or mid-twenties, with precisely combed brown hair, green eyes, and the aforementioned green waistcoat. "Don't mention it," he said. "I heard you talking to the manager. I have to admit, it's been a while since I heard anyone talk back to him like that. That was an excellent performance, by the way."

Calvin blinked. "So...you didn't believe Susie?" he asked.

"Not for a moment," said Richard with a wink. "The crying was total overkill, and also kind of sexist. Might wanna watch out for that. Still, I have to admire someone who can stand up to that guy, especially someone so young."

Calvin wasn't quite sure how to react to the mixed messages the guy was giving out, so he just decided to say "Thanks."

Richard straightened up. "If you lose, just leave the Duel Disk at the front desk," he said. "I'll pick it up tomorrow morning. But if you win...my room number is 413. Swing by later today and we'll have a chat."

And with that, Richard strolled off toward the elevator doors, whistling to himself as he walked.

"Okay, wait," said Susie. "What's going on? I just got back on track and now I'm lost again!"

"Calvin's agreed to play a game of Duel Monsters with the manager guy," said Hobbes. "If we win, we get to stay here as long as we want; if we lose, we really _do_ sleep in an alley tonight."

"Wait, seriously?" exclaimed Susie. "You really think he'll keep his word over a _card game_?"

Calvin shrugged. "They usually do in the show," he said. "Duel Monsters is a seriously big deal in this reality; it's as big as the Internet is back home and almost as hard to understand."

Susie considered this. "Alright," she said. "So...do you think you can beat him?"

"Probably," said Calvin with more confidence than he actually felt. "I mean, I _am_ pretty good."

"Really?" asked Susie. "How good are you? Like, how many...duels, right? How many duels have you won?"

"Erm..." said Calvin awkwardly, "I mean, well...it all depends on how you look at it, but if you want to get really technical, I guess...this would be the first."

"WHAT?!" cried Susie in horror.

"Well, it's not like I've got a lot of people to play against!" exclaimed Calvin. "I'm six; I can't exactly drive to a convention and compete in matches! I've never even met another duelist before today!"

"So let me get this straight," hissed Susie. "You just bet our sleeping conditions tonight on you being able to win a game _you've never even played?!_ "

"It's not that I've never played!" protested Calvin. "I've practiced card combos dozens of times with Hobbes! And I did a lot of research into deck-building! And on top of that, I have some great cards! I've just...never played a full duel all the way through before."

"Great," muttered Susie. "This is an utter disaster."

"Hey, look on the bright side!" said Calvin. "Based on the Duel Disk design, this is clearly the original series era; I have cards that are literally years ahead of anything they've ever seen before! The Manager is going down!"

He looked down at the Duel Disk...and immediately frowned.

"Oh, what now?" moaned Susie upon seeing the look he was giving the device.

"Hey Hobbes," said Calvin. "Were these slots always there in the original series?"

"What slots?" asked Moe.

All four leaned over the Duel Disk, examining it. Hobbes decided it was his turn to go into lecture mode, since Calvin had gotten the last one and this was something Hobbes actually understood.

"This is a Duel Disk, a device used to scan Duel Monsters cards and project holographic monsters and spells based on the duelists' actions. These five flat areas are the Monster Zones, where monsters can be summoned, and these slots set underneath them are the Spell and Trap Zones, where you place...well, Spell Cards and Trap Cards. There's also a little tray that pops out of the side for Field Spells, which affect the entirety of the duel. But you're right: these two slots weren't in the show."

On each end of the Duel Disk's "blade" was a slot, next to the Spell and Trap Zones, was an additional slot, for a total of seven. The area surrounding each slot was painted a different color: the one on the far left was bright blue, the one on the far left bright red.

"You know," said Calvin cautiously, "those slots look worryingly like Pendulum Zones."

"What does that mean?" asked Susie, not sure she wanted to know the answer.

"It means," said Calvin, "that my one advantage may have just poofed out of existence."

At that moment, the Manager walked out of the back area. He now had his own Duel Disk strapped to his arm and was glaring impatiently at Calvin. "Come on," he said. "There's a dueling court out back; we'll settle this there."

Calvin nodded and reluctantly followed the Manager down a nearby hallway, the rest of the group tailing behind him.

After a couple minutes navigating past hotel rooms, the group arrived at a glass door leading out into what appeared to be a recreation area. The Manager swiped the door open with a card and walked through, Calvin and the others hot on his heels.

The group found themselves in a park-like area, with gravel paths leading through an arrangement of trees, bushes, and flower patches behind miniature iron fences. The sound of splashing water and excited voices indicated there was a pool nearby. However, the main attraction was a raised concrete platform. The Manager led the group up a short flight of steps onto the platform, which seemed to be their ultimate destination.

The platform itself was surprisingly bare. There were two squares, positioned far apart from each other on opposite sides of the circle's center. The Manager stopped and turned to the group.

"This is the Duel Estates Arena," he said. "If you back out now, I'll still generously accept your apology and won't call the police on you."

"No way!" exclaimed Calvin. "I'm gonna see this through to the bitter end!"

"Whatever," muttered the Manager. "I'll make short work of you, and then you're gonna leave and I'll get some peace and quiet!"

The Manager quickly took the nearest square, leaving Calvin to walk to the other one. Hobbes, Susie, and Moe stood on the sidelines and watched.

Calvin was deep in thought. Not about how he was going to duel; he had long memorized all his strategies. He was thinking about what catchphrase to yell out. "It's time to duel!" was too cliché; it was the first thing that came to mind when you mentioned _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ to anyone. "Get your game on!" was a bit juvenile for Calvin's taste. "Let's rev it up!" only worked when there were motorcycles involved. Calvin steadfastly refused to utter any variation of the phrase "Feel the flow", no matter how much he had liked _ZEXAL_ and thought it was underrated. And he had no idea what the catchphrase of _ARC-V_ was, seeing how he hadn't watched it yet.

No, there was only one thing to do: he would have to make up a new catchphrase.

"Alright, Manager!" he exclaimed. "I hope you're ready to go down, because _I'm ready for take-off_!" Then he considered this. "No wait, that's terrible," he said. "Can I try that again?"

"No take-backs!" called Hobbes.

"Screw you, I'll come up with a better one later!" snapped Calvin.

With that important work done, Calvin slipped his wrist through the strap on the Duel Disk and tightened it. The bulky object felt surprisingly light on his arm. Calvin pulled out his deck and slipped it into the slot, making sure to store his Extra Deck in his pocket. He wasn't sure how to turn the device on, so he decided to guess.

"Hologram generators, go!" he exclaimed.

Apparently this was the right thing to do. Immediately two jet-like objects flew off the side of the device, landing about forty feet away on the far sides of the court. The attachments quickly unfolded a pair of glass-like metallic panels, which began to glow with a rainbow light. On the far side of the court, the Manager had done the same with his own Duel Disk.

High above the two, a pair of holographic panels appeared in the sky, displaying the two duelists' Life Points for the participants to see. At the moment, both screens read LP: 4000.

"Okay," said Susie. "So if I'm remembering this right, Calvin and the manager guy will summon monsters to attack each other until one of them runs out of Life Points, right?"

"That's about the shape of it," confirmed Hobbes.

"DRAW!" both Calvin and the Manager shouted. Each player drew five cards from the top of their deck, creating their starting hand.

Calvin gave Hobbes and the others a grin and a nod before looking down at his hand. He considered what he had drawn. Not the worst hand to open with, he supposed; at least he had successfully drawn a monster.

"Alright," said the Manager. "I think I'll start this off!"

"Thanks," said Calvin, rolling his eyes. Honestly he had been hoping to go first; that would have given him an edge. And considering the stakes in this duel, he could certainly have used an edge.

The Manager considered his hand; Calvin noticed that he didn't draw a new card, a rule which had only been added with _ARC-V_. Another troubling anachronism.

"First," exclaimed the Manager, "I summon Goblin Bandit in Attack Mode!"

He slammed a card into one of the Monster Zones on his Duel Disk. Immediately a large circle of light appeared on the ground before him. Out of the circle rose a monster: a wrinkled goblin with dark green skin and glowing red eyes, a bag of treasure slung over one shoulder. It leered at Calvin, who was too impressed at the spectacle to care. The scene he'd watched so many times was coming true before him. A screen appeared above Goblin Bandit, displaying its stats: **1300 ATK / 1100 DEF / LVL: 3**.

"Is that really a hologram?" exclaimed Susie. "It looks so realistic!"

"Yeah," said Hobbes. "The technology in the show is pretty advanced."

"And I'll end my turn by placing one card face down," added the Manager. He slipped a card into the slot beneath his Goblin, causing the holographic image of a card to appear near the Manager. "Now then, time for your first move...and more than likely your last!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Calvin muttered. He reached down to his deck and drew his sixth card. He examined his hand as a whole, taking in the possible options. He had three monsters, two spells, and a trap. His eyes fell on the card on the far left.

He smiled. _Perfect!_ he thought. _I'll be able to play one of my combos on the very first turn!_

"Alright," said Calvin. "First, I summon Spirit Ryu!"

The circle of light appeared on the ground, this time on Calvin's side of the field. Out of the light rose a spectral purple dragon, its batlike wings a sickly yellow color. A green light emanated from the large gem on the dragon's forehead, and its eyes pulsed red. Another large holographic screen appeared displaying the stats: **1000 ATK / 1000 DEF / LVL: 4**.

"And now," declared Calvin, "Spirit Ryu is going to attack your Goblin Bandit!"

The dragon leapt upwards into the air, spreading its wings as it sailed towards the Manager's monster.

"What's he doing?!" cried Susie in horror.

The Manager laughed: a single harsh _ha_. "I knew this duel would be easy, but this is just sad! Can't you count, kid? My Goblin Bandit has 1300 ATK, and your pathetic dragon only has 1000!"

"Not when I activate Spirit Ryu's special ability!" Calvin exclaimed. "You see, by sending a Dragon-Type monster- such as my Armed Dragon LV5- from my hand straight to the Graveyard, I can increase Spirit Ryu's ATK and DEF by 1000 until the end of my turn! And that gives Spirit Ryu more ATK than your ugly goblin!"

Calvin slotted the card in question into a slot on the far side of the Duel Disk, representing the Graveyard. As soon as he had done so, a beam of orange light burst from the slot, swirling through the air and striking the gem on Spirit Ryu's head. The dragon let out a roar as its eyes blazed with new energy. The screen displaying Spirit Ryu's ATK and DEF flashed as both sets of points increased to 2000.

"What?!" cried the Manager.

"Now, Spirit Ryu," called Calvin, "attack with...um..." Calvin suddenly realized he had no idea what the attack name was. He looked down...and suddenly realized with surprise that the card had changed. Aside from featuring the same copyright as the card in the alley, it now featured attack and effect names within the card's lore. There was one called Sonic Flash Attack that Calvin vaguely recalled had been used in the anime, but he quickly realized the other one sounded cooler.

 _The changing cards are a mystery for another day_ , thought Calvin. _For now I have to win this duel!_

"Now then, Spirit Ryu!" he exclaimed, starting again. "Attack with Spectral Breath!"

The dragon drew back, unfurled its wings, and let loose a torrent of green fire from its mouth. The Manager's Goblin Bandit let out a scream and disintegrated under the onslaught.

The Manager winced, as if the flames were burning him too. Above him, his Life Point counter dropped from 4000 to 3300: the difference between the two monsters' Attack Points.

"Oh yeah!" exclaimed Calvin. "How do you like the taste of _dragon fire_ in the morning?"

The Manager straightened up. "Okay then," he said. "So you're a bit better than I thought. But let's see how you handle this! I reveal my Trap Card: Damage Vaccine Omega Max!"

The face-down card flipped upwards, revealing itself to be a Trap Card with an image of what appeared to be a bottle of medicine with electrical clamps hooked to it, apparently leading to a power source of some description.

"Thanks to this card," said the Manager, "any Battle Damage I took as a result of that battle gets healed right up! So your dragon's attack was pointless!"

As Calvin watched, the holographic card disintegrated into golden light, which poured over the Manager. On the screen, his life points returned to 4000.

Calvin winced. His combo had been thwarted, and with just one card! This was definitely not a good start to the duel.

"Er," said Calvin, "in that case I place two cards face-down and end my turn."

With these words, Spirit Ryu let out a low moan. Out of its mouth poured the red energy it had absorbed from the discarded card; the energy flowed back into Calvin's Graveyard and disappeared. The screen showed Spirit Ryu's ATK and DEF decrease back to 1000, leaving the dragon looking just as sickly as it had been at the start.

"What happened?" exclaimed Susie. "Why did it lose all those Attack and Defense Points?"

"That's the effect," said Hobbes somberly. "Spirit Ryu can increase its power by sending other monsters to the Graveyard, but it loses that power at the end of Calvin's turn. Which means..."

Calvin's eyes widened with horror. "Which means my dragon is a sitting duck!" he cried.

"That's right!" exclaimed the Manager. "And now it's my turn!" He drew his card. He looked at it and smiled; he clearly liked whatever he had drawn.

"I summon Thief Lord Sizya!" he exclaimed, slamming the card onto his Duel Disk with such force that Calvin thought it might break.

The new monster materialized on the field. This one was a man clad in ragged robes, with a cloth mask over his face. He clutched a crown in one hand and a heavy blade in the other. A new screen appeared with stats: 900 ATK / 1500 DEF / LVL: 4.

"And thanks to Sizya's special ability," added the Manager, "on a turn he's successfully summoned, I'm allowed to Special Summon another Thief Lord monster from my hand, provided that it has less Attack Points than Sizya! So welcome to the field, Thief Lord Adrienne!"

Another monster materialized on the field. This one was a girl in a dress inspired by medieval Japanese styles. She clutched a katana in one hand, and the look she gave Calvin clearly implied she knew how to use it.

For a moment Calvin was nervous to see two monsters staring him down...but his fear turned to confusion when the stat screen flashed up: 500 ATK / 900 DEF / LVL: 4.

"Hah!" exclaimed Calvin, thinking that maybe he could stand to be a bit cocky. "Neither of those monsters is strong enough to take out my dragon! Come on, Manager; if you want to take down Calvin the Bold, you'll have to do a lot better than that!"

"Oh, I know they can't beat your dragon on their own," said the Manager with a smile. "And that's why they're not going to be sticking around long! I Overlay my Level 4 Thief Lord Sizya and Thief Lord Adrienne! With these two monsters, I build the Overlay Network!"

Calvin watched in disbelief as the two monsters turned into orbs of light: one orange, one blue. The orbs launched into the sky, leaving trails of fire behind. On the field, a red vortex began to materialize; the orbs plunged from the sky down into the heart of the vortex, each being absorbed with a flash of light.

"Now," exclaimed the Manager, "I Xyz Summon OLYMPIAN WARRIOR ATHENA!"

A massive creature emerged from the vortex, which quickly dissipated. It resembled a vast woman, nearly twelve feet tall and clad in silvery metallic armor. Orbiting her were two spheres of golden light, representing the cards attached to the Xyz Monster as Overlay Units. The screen appeared, this one black rather than the previous red: **1600 ATK / 1900 DEF / RNK: 4**.

Calvin stared up at the new monster and for the first time realized exactly how far in over his head he really was in this duel, in this city, and in this entire universe.

"This," he moaned, "is most definitely one of _those_ days."

 _To be continued..._

 **A/N: So that's the first chapter and the start of the first duel! As you may have guessed, Calvin's deck is based in large part off my own deck, which is why most of his cards date from** ** _GX_** **or before. Though I do have to confess that I don't actually own a copy of Number 9: Dyson Sphere. That's just wishful thinking on my part because I LOVE that card. Easily my favorite monster in the series.**


	3. Episode 02

Episode 2: Welcome to Domino City! Part 2

Calvin was most definitely not ready for today.

When he had woken up that morning- at least he thought only a day had passed- his plans for the day had essentially extended to watching the Dawn of the Duel marathon, and maybe playing a game of Calvinball if Dad remembered to get him and Hobbes a new volleyball. Instead, he had been sucked into another universe through a dimensional rift along with Hobbes, Susie, and Moe, and now the only way to find them a place to stay was for him to win a card game he had never actually played all the way through before. Currently his opponent's Xyz Monster was staring him down, Calvin had only one sickly-looking dragon on the field, and his opponent, the Manager, was showing no sign of mercy.

"I don't understand!" protested Calvin. "That card is an Xyz Monster! Those aren't supposed to exist for years!"

"What are you talking about, kid?" asked the Manager.

Calvin's mind was racing. "Do you know about Synchro Monsters?" he asked.

"What are you, stupid?" snapped the Manager. "Of course I do!"

"How about Pendulum Monsters?" asked Calvin.

"Duh! What do you think those slots on the side of your Duel Disk are for, holding your juice box?"

If Calvin's mind had been racing before, now it was in overdrive with 12 Speed Counters hurtling towards a ramp. "What about Dark Synchros? Have you heard of those?"

"Dark Synchros?" asked the Manager in confusion. "The hell are those?"

Calvin nodded, slowly piecing things together. Dark Synchros had been anime-exclusive, used only by the Dark Signers in _5Ds_ , so it made sense that the Manager would never have heard of them. But nothing else involving the situation made any sense.

"What's going on?" protested Hobbes. "This is the original series era; he should only have Fusion Monsters! How can the summon mechanics from a show as recent as _ARC-V_ be involved?"

Calvin considered this. He had no answers, and at the moment he had much bigger questions to deal with.

"I don't know what garbage you're talking about," the Manager exclaimed, "but now it's time to bring on the pain! You see, by absorbing her two Overlay Units, Olympian Warrior Athena gains 1000 Attack Points!"

Athena reached out her hands and caught the two golden spheres orbiting around her. Her entire body began to glow with energy as her ATK grew to 2600.

"Now then, Olympian Warrior Athena," exclaimed the Manager, "lay waste to his pathetic dragon with Divine Wisdom!"

The giant woman bowed her head and cupped her hands together. A ball of light began to form between her hands. After a moment, a beam of pure energy shot from the ball, slamming into Spirit Ryu. The dragon let out a pained moan and disintegrated into golden light, which quickly faded. The beam then swept forward to Calvin, who flinched involuntarily. The hologram was so realistic Calvin could practically feel the wind blowing him back.

"Now then," said the Manager, "during my End Phase, if Athena attacked during my turn, she loses 400 Attack Points. But I think it's a price I'm willing to pay to do so much damage to you!"

Calvin looked up. The screen displaying his Life Points had just dropped from 4000 to 2400. Calvin winced: nearly half his Life Points gone in one turn! He had to step up his game if he wanted to win. Looking back at Athena, another screen displayed that her ATK had dropped from 2600 to 2200: still formidable, but not quite as terrifying as before.

"Alright kid," laughed the Manager, "let's see if you can last the next round without dropping your cards...or wetting your pants!"

"Alright!" exclaimed Calvin. "Looks like it's my turn!" He drew another card from his deck.

"Now then," he said, "first I activate a little Spell Card called Ookazi! Thanks to this card, you automatically take 800 points of Direct Damage! Hope you can take the heat!"

Calvin slammed the card into the third slot. A person-sized replica of the card appeared on the field, depicting a wooden building on fire. Out of the image emerged a ball of flames, which swooped past Olympian Warrior Athena and struck the Manager full in the face, knocking him backwards. Calvin still wasn't quite sure how the hologram system was physically affecting the two of them; maybe it was just so realistic that people couldn't help but react, or maybe they were just playing along. On-screen, the Manager's Life Points dropped to 3200.

"And next," exclaimed Calvin, "I'm gonna activate my Continuous Trap: Call of the Haunted! Thanks to this Trap Card, I'm allowed to Special Summon one monster from my Graveyard! And I choose Armed Dragon LV5!"

One of the trap cards on Calvin's field flipped upward, revealing an image of a cemetery. Purple smoke poured out of the card, forming a vast cloud through which nothing could be seen. As the smoke began to dissipate, a new monster could be seen: a massive red-and-dark-gray dragon covered with nasty-looking metallic spikes. A purple aura continued to surround it as its stat screen appeared: **2400 ATK / 1700 DEF / LVL: 5**. A trail of purple energy connected the dragon to the card.

"And," added Calvin, "since I summoned Armed Dragon with a Special Summon, I can still use my Normal Summon for the turn! So from my hand I bring out Luster Dragon!"

The circle of light appeared, and another dragon rose out of it: a bluish-purple dragon with scales that looked to be made of solid crystal. Its stat screen appeared: **1900 ATK / 1600 DEF / LVL: 4**.

"But before we get to the dragon attacks," added Calvin, "I think this would be a good time to draw your attention to the other face-down card I have on my field. I reveal a Spell Card: Wave-Motion Cannon!"

At Calvin's word, his other face-down card flipped up. This time, instead of the card disappearing into light, a large holographic object appeared: a strange green cannon with a wide barrel, lifted on a set of golden legs.

"You see," said Calvin, "now that I've activated this card, it will remain on the field until I send it to the Graveyard. And when that happens, you'll be hit with Direct Damage equal to the number of Standby Phases that have passed since I first activated the card _times one thousand!_ "

Susie leaned over to Hobbes. "What's a Standby Phase?" she asked.

"It's the phase of battle immediately following your draw at the start of a turn," said Hobbes.

"Oh, I get it!" exclaimed Susie. "So each turn, Calvin's cannon will get stronger until he finally fires it!"

"Yeah," said Hobbes. "That's his plan, alright. Now we just have to hope that the Manager doesn't rip up his plan by the roots."

"And with that," said Calvin, "it's time for a DEATH BATTLE! Armed Dragon LV5, take out Athena with Infernal Roar!"

The dragon reared back and let out a devastating blast of energy straight for Olympian Warrior Athena. For a moment the goddess resisted the blast, but ultimately the dragon won out and she vanished in a burst of light. The Manager gave Calvin a stone-cold glare as his Life Points dropped to 3000.

"And now that she's out of the way," exclaimed Calvin excitedly, "my Luster Dragon can go in for a direct attack! Luster Dragon, devastate the Manager's Life Points with..." He blinked. "'Breath of Fire'? Really, that's the whole name of the attack?" He considered this, then shrugged. "Well, I guess I can't be picky when commanding a dragon. Luster Dragon, attack the Manager directly!"

Luster Dragon drew back and unleashed a torrent of white fire from its mouth. The Manager leapt backwards from the flames, but the holographic blast still engulfed him. As Calvin watched, the Manager's Life Points dropped from 3000 all the way down to 1100.

"Oh yeah!" exclaimed Calvin. "I so totally have this duel in the bag! Now with that, I end my turn. Let's see you recover from that!"

"Oh, I'm gonna do more than that," hissed the Manager. "When I'm through with you, you're not just going to leave my hotel forever; they'll have to carry you out on a stretcher!"

Hobbes blinked. "Well, that's a little intense," he remarked. "Did a grown man just threaten to grievously injure a six-year-old-boy over a card game?"

"Pretty much par for the course with _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ from my perspective," said Calvin with a shrug. "Incidentally, how are you holding up, Moe?"

Moe gave a sort of noncommittal grunt indicating that he was totally out of his depth but was coping the best he could. Calvin was rather surprised how much Moe was able to convey with one grunt, especially considering that he would certainly not have been able to convey a thought that complex with actual words.

"Now then," exclaimed the Manager, "my turn!" He drew a card from his deck; upon seeing it, he smiled.

"Don't forget," remarked Calvin, "since your Standby Phase has now passed, my Wave-Motion Cannon starts to charge up!"

He pointed to the cannon positioned on his field. The barrel was beginning to crackle with blue-white energy.

"Whatever," muttered the Manager. "I'll deal with that soon enough. Now, since Olympian Warrior Athena is in my Graveyard, I can banish that card from play altogether in order to Special Summon a monster from my hand, as long as it has less than 1000 Attack Points. And I choose Olympian Attendant Hermes!"

A new circle light appeared on the field as the Manager placed a new monster onto his Duel Disk. Out of it rose a scrawny winged man in a white toga. Calvin stared in surprise at the status screen: **500 ATK / 800 DEF / LVL: 3**.

"Wait, what?" he exclaimed. "Why would you choose to summon a monster with less than a thousand Attack and Defense points?"

"That would be because of its special ability!" the Manager declared with a smug smile. "Thanks to it, when I successfully summon this card, I can add one Field Spell from my deck to my hand!" He quickly removed his deck from its slot and began to thumb through it.

"Field Spell?" asked Susie.

"They're basically Spell Cards that effect the entirety of the duel, rather than one specific aspect," said Hobbes, smiling. "They also typically apply to both players instead of just one."

"I see," said Susie. She blinked. "Wait, why are you smiling?"

"Because," said Hobbes, "if Field Spells work the way they do in the show, things are about to get...interesting."

"Ah-ha!" exclaimed the Manager, finally finding the card he was looking for. "I now activate a Field Spell called Olympian Arena!" He pushed a button on the side of his Duel Disk, causing a small tray with space for a card to fold out of the side. With a smile, the Manager placed the card into the slot, which then slid back into the Duel Disk.

What happened next was nothing short of spectacular.

Instantly the entire landscape around them changed. The concrete circle, the hotel garden, and even the skyline of Domino City faded away. Suddenly the entire group was standing in a dirt arena, surrounded by what looked like ancient Greek temples. Statues of gods and goddesses stood amidst bronze braziers burning with flames.

Susie gasped. "What happened?!" she exclaimed. "How did we get here? Where are we, even?"

"We're still in the same place," said Hobbes. "This is all just a hologram."

" _That's not how a hologram works!_ " protested Susie.

Hobbes shrugged. "It is in this universe," he said simply. "Just go with it."

Calvin was having some trouble comprehending it too, despite having seen Field Spells used dozens of times in the show. He knelt down and felt the ground by his feet. Sure enough, he felt not the dirt of the new arena but the concrete that he had been standing on for the entire duel.

"Pretty impressive," he admitted, standing back up.

"Oh, that's nothing!" exclaimed the Manager. "You see, thanks to this Field Spell, only one monster can attack per turn, and any Battle Damage we take is doubled!"

Calvin's eyes widened. "So I have to choose between attacking with Armed Dragon LV5 or Luster Dragon, AND risk double damage with each turn?" he asked.

"Yep!" said the Manager. "And now," he exclaimed, "I summon Olympian Warrior Apollo!"

He slammed another card into the Duel Disk. This time the monster that appeared was a handsome man with shoulder-length brown hair. His armor was pure gold and gleamed with an intensity that made it difficult to look at. Calvin had to squint to make out the stats: **1800 ATK / 800 DEF / LVL: 5**.

"You see," said the Manager, "I can summon this card without Tributing when I have less than 1500 Life Points!"

Calvin blinked, now officially lost. "But wait!" he protested. "You just said you can only attack with one monster! And neither monster you control can scratch either of my dragons!"

"Oh, this monster won't be attacking," the Manager said with a smug smile. "In fact, neither of them will! You see, Hermes over there happens to be something known as a Tuner Monster. Do you know what that means, twerp?"

Calvin's eyes widened. "You're going to Synchro Summon!" he exclaimed.

"Exactly," said the Manager. "I now tune my Level 3 Olympian Attendant Hermes with my Level 5 Olympian Warrior Apollo!"

At his words, both monsters leapt up into the air. As Calvin watched, both monsters underwent a transformation. Hermes transformed into a set of three green rings covered with intricate symbols, while Apollo turned into a golden outline of himself, with five brilliant stars at the center. The rings quickly moved to surround Apollo, now nothing more than a wireframe tracing. A brilliant beam of light shot between the stars, connecting them with a flash of light that momentarily blinded everyone watching. The column of light expanded until it reached the rings.

"Now," said the Manager in triumph, "I Synchro Summon _Olympian Warrior Ares!_ "

When the light faded, the two monsters were gone. In their place was a single monster: a vast man with blood-red skin and clutching a massive sword. The look in his eyes was enough to make Calvin want to start running away as fast as he could. But he couldn't run away now, not when he still had a chance at victory. Calvin gulped when he saw the monster's stats: **3000 ATK / 2500 DEF / LVL: 8**.

"Unfortunately," said the Manager, "Ares can't attack on the turn he's Synchro Summoned. But he _can_ activate his special ability: every turn, Olympian Warrior Ares is allowed to destroy one Spell or Trap Card on the field! You see, your Armed Dragon may be tough, but right now it's got a serious weakness: if that Call of the Haunted card is destroyed, it goes straight back to the Graveyard!"

"Oh sure," remarked Calvin. "You _could_ do that. But do you want to?"

The Manager blinked. "What are you talking about?" he asked, for the first time looking disconcerted.

"You see," said Calvin, giving the Manager his own best smug grin, "I happen to have _two_ cards in my Spell and Trap Zones. You could attack Call of the Haunted if you wanted, but that would leave my Wave-Motion Cannon without so much as a scratch. And that means that it's just going to keep on building up charge. Best case scenario, I unleash it next turn and slam you with 2000 points of Direct Damage, leaving you with only 200. That's an awfully precarious position to be in. Or worse, what if I choose not to fire on my next turn? What if I instead wait even longer and slam you with _4000_ points of damage the turn after that, instantly ending the duel? Are you really going to gamble the entire duel on the chance that you _might_ draw a card that destroys my cannon next turn? Or on me being patient enough to wait?"

The Manager's eyes widened. "No way," he hissed. "You _couldn't_ have planned this..."

"So what if I did?" challenged Calvin. "What're you gonna do about it, huh? _Huh_? Come at me, bro!"

"ENOUGH!" the Manager roared. "Olympian Warrior Ares, destroy that Wave-Motion Cannon!"

Ares nodded and raised his sword over his head. Red energy streamed up from the ground and into the sword, causing it to begin to glow. After a few seconds of this the monster swung his sword forward, firing an arc of energy that cut Calvin's cannon clean in two.

"Is that it?" asked Calvin, sounding bored.

"YES!" screamed the Manager. "THAT'S IT! I END MY TURN!"

"Good," said Calvin with a smile. "Because you just fell straight into my trap."

The Manager's eyes widened. "W...what?"

Calvin closed his eyes. _Alright, Heart of the Cards_ , he thought. _If you're actually a thing in this world, I could sure use your help right about now._

"I Tribute both Armed Dragon LV5 and Luster Dragon! You see, the monster in my hand is Level 7, which means I need to send two monsters on my field to the Graveyard in order to summon it! So come on out, Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"

Calvin slammed one more card into the Duel Disk. The two monsters on his field transformed into balls of rainbow light which flew up into the sky, where a new, far larger disk of light had formed. Once the lights had been absorbed, Calvin's creature began to descend.

Susie gasped. Moe gasped. Hobbes gave an impressed "Nice." Even the Manager looked awed. Hovering just above Calvin's field was a vast dragon covered in midnight-black scales. Its coat was covered with spiky protrusions, and its eyes glowed red like two hot coals. It let out a Godzilla-like roar as its stats appeared on a screen: **2400 ATK / 2000 DEF / LVL: 7**.

The Manager shook his head, apparently getting over his momentary surprise. "Whatever," he said with a shrug. "Your dragon's only got 2400 Attack Points! Next turn my Olympian Warrior Ares will obliterate it! And thanks to his special ability, if he successfully destroys a monster with more than 2000 Attack Points, he can then attack again! And that will be the end of your Life Points and your quest to annoy me into submission!"

Calvin smiled. "Oh, Red-Eyes Black Dragon won't be the one to destroy you! That will be his big brother here!" He held up the remaining card in his hand. "You see, I needed Red-Eyes Black Dragon on the field in order to summon this card. And now that I have him out, I can Tribute him to Special Summon an even more powerful dragon: one which will bring an end to this! Now GO, SHADOW METAMORPHOSIS!"

Calvin wasn't sure where these last words came from. Maybe they had been put into his mind by the card itself, or maybe they didn't do anything at all. As Calvin pulled the Red-Eyes Black Dragon Card off of his Duel Disk and placed an even more powerful card there instead, a pulse of dark red energy shot out from the device. Immediately the dragon was enveloped in a sphere of darkness, the edges glowing with brilliant red light.

"Now come forth, my ultimate creature of destruction and chaos!" exclaimed Calvin. "Come forth, RED-EYES DARKNESS DRAGON!"

The beast that burst from the sphere was like nothing most of the group had ever seen before. Its black scales gleamed in the light of the sun, and its wings and tail featured bright red gems that blazed with a sinister energy. Red lines ran all along its body, making it look like it had just beamed out of the Grid from _Tron_.

For a moment the Manager stared in horror. Then his horror turned to amusement as he saw the new dragon's stats: **2400 ATK / 2000 DEF / LVL: 9**.

"You really can't count, can you?" he exclaimed. "That dragon has the same Attack and Defense Points as your last one! Ares will still crush it like a bug!"

"Yeah, well," said Calvin, "that _would_ be the case if it weren't for my dragon's special ability! You see, my Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon gains 300 Attack Points for each and every Dragon-Type monster in my Graveyard! And I count _four_! Which means my dragon now has...erm..." He frowned, trying to do the calculation in his head.

"3600!" exclaimed Susie.

"Right!" said Calvin. "3600 Attack Points! And that's all I need to send your Olympian Warrior Ares straight to the Graveyard!"

The Manager stared in horror as Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon's ATK grew 1200 points. The dragon let out a deafening roar and stared at Olympian Warrior Ares with a look that almost seemed...hungry.

"And that's not all!" exclaimed Calvin. "Thanks to the effect of your Field Spell, the battle damage you receive is doubled! So you're gonna be hit with 1200 points of Direct Damage: more than enough to wipe you out! And now, Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, _end this duel!_ "

The dragon drew back and unleashed a torrent of black fire from its mouth. The flames consumed both Ares and the Manager, destroying the former and knocking the latter off his feet. As the group watch, the Manger's Life Points dropped from 1100 to 0. The arena around them faded away, restoring the view of the hotel gardens as Calvin's virtual screen changed to simply say "YOU WIN!" The holographic jet things flew back onto the two players' Duel Disks.

Calvin walked over to the defeated Manager. "I hope you learned a valuable lesson from all of this," he said.

"But...how?" protested the Manager, pushing himself up on his elbows. "How could I lose to a little kid like you?"

"Simple," said Calvin. "You let me win. And the best part is, you didn't even know it."

The Manager blinked.

"You see," said Calvin, "my entire plan rested on having two Dragon-Type monsters on the field when I drew Red-Eyes Black Dragon. That plan was put in serious jeopardy when you busted out a card that destroyed Traps and Spells, so I had to convince you to take out my Wave-Motion Cannon instead of Call of the Haunted. Then once you did, the stage was set for my victory, since not only did I have enough Tributes on the field to summon Red-Eyes, but having two dragons meant that Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon's attack, amplified by your Field Spell, would be strong enough to end the duel immediately once it landed! You were so flustered after my little speech that you didn't even lay down a Trap Card to protect yourself!"

"But you couldn't possibly have known that your speech would've worked!" protested the Manager.

"Actually, yeah I could have," said Calvin. "Back in the lobby, you were so worried about losing a little profit over us staying in your hotel for a few days while we searched for somewhere else to stay that you were willing to agree to a duel in which you stood to lose far more money from us staying here indefinitely. I knew you would duel the same way you ran a business: willing to risk a big loss to prevent a small loss."

"No way," snapped the Manager. "You couldn't have figured that out so fast!"

"Yeah I could've," said Calvin with a smile. "That's the mistake you made, both in challenging me and in accepting my bluff: you underestimated me. You know who I am? I'm Calvin. I came here from another universe, and right now I'm on a mission to get myself, my friend, and these other two home. And if that means dueling a bunch of losers like you, then I'm gonna keep fighting until the bitter end." Suddenly his eyes widened. "Hey, that's it!" he exclaimed. "That can be my catchphrase: 'Until the bitter end'!"

Hobbes considered this. "A little dark, but it works," he said with a smile.

"Wait," said Susie. "There's one other thing I don't get. Calvin didn't have Red-Eyes Black Dragon in his hand when he tricked the Manager into destroying that card. So how could he possibly have known he'd draw it on his next turn?"

Hobbes shrugged. "I guess he just had faith in his deck. They do it all the time on the show."

Susie smiled. "Well, what do you know?" she mused. "Maybe he isn't quite so awful after all."

Calvin smiled. "Now then," he said, "about that room we agreed on..."

The Manager winced. Sometimes he truly hated his job.

 **A/N: So there we are, the end of Chapter 2. I'd just like to clear the air: yeah, this duel kind of sucked. The premise of this duel was supposed to be that Calvin's draws would essentially mirror my own: I'd draw cards from my/Calvin's deck and then write the Manager's cards around what I drew. Unfortunately, that ended up not being** ** _nearly_** **as entertaining as I thought it would be. By the time Calvin's next duel happens, I promise that he will have a much more interesting deck.**

 **Since I wrote this chapter, I have learned that the catchphrase of** ** _Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V_** **is "It's showtime!" It's okay, but I can see why Calvin wouldn't have wanted to use it.**


	4. Episode 03

Chapter 3: Duel Estates

"Are you sure it's this way?" asked Susie.

"For the last time, yes!" Calvin exclaimed angrily. "I told you, I know exactly where I'm going!"

"That's what you said the last six times you led us to the wrong room," said Hobbes, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, that was not my fault!" exclaimed Calvin. "I think the Manager deliberately gave us bad directions. Plus, this place is built like a maze!"

"Four of the rooms you took us to were on the wrong floor!" exclaimed Susie.

"One was a broom closet," added Moe.

Calvin rolled his eyes. "We're here," he said. "Look, Room 631, just like it says on the room key! And look, we're on the Xyz Floor, aren't we?"

Upon reentering the hotel, Calvin and the others had quickly discovered that each of the floors was themed after the different classes of monster cards. The first floor was based on Normal Monsters, the second on Effect Monsters, the third on Ritual Monsters, the fourth on Fusion Monsters, the fifth on Synchro Monsters, and the sixth on Xyz Monsters. The seventh floor was probably based on Pendulum Monsters, but Calvin had no way of knowing for sure, since it was all penthouses up there and you apparently needed a special access key to get up there. The walls of this particular floor were painted black and covered with images of stars and constellations, and small hologram displays in the corner showed miniature Overlay Networks. It had been impressive at first, but after six wrong doors, it was getting old.

Calvin pulled out the room key the Manager had grudgingly given him and inserted it into the lock. The door swung open with a slight _creak_.

"That's a great sign," muttered Moe.

Inside the room was, like much of life, better than they had feared and worse than they had hoped. The hotel room actually consisted of what looked to be three interconnected rooms: a main living room area with a TV and couch; a kitchen area with a table, a few chairs, and a cooking area; and a bedroom with a single large queen bed.

"Alright," said Calvin. "I'm taking the bed because I'm sure Hobbes is going to want to sleep wherever I sleep and I don't want to be squished. Susie, you get the sofa; it'll probably fold out into a bed if I know my hotels. And Moe, you can just sleep...I don't know, wherever. Maybe we can get a potted plant that you can crawl up and pretend it's a tree or whatever; I don't know what gorillas like."

"So...what do we do now?" wondered Susie. "I mean, it's been kind of hectic for the last few hours; I'm not sure what we should be doing right now."

"Well," said Calvin, "right now it's about 7:30. I figure that I'll lay down on the couch, pull up the Pro Dueling channel, and spend the rest of the evening watching card games until it's time for bed. Tomorrow I'll look into any other differences that may have popped up in this universe and maybe see if we can find anywhere to stay where the owner doesn't actively despise us."

"But what about the other time machine?" protested Susie. "Didn't you say you were going to work on that?"

"Yeah," said Calvin, "but I'm gonna need parts, and those parts will take a while to obtain. Plus, it's not like we have any parents around to rush us or school to go to! It's not a homework assignment; we can take as much time as we need!"

"But...what about getting home?" protested Susie. "What about our families?"

"Come on!" protested Calvin, flopping onto the couch. "We're possibly the first people ever to visit a parallel universe! You should enjoy it a little!"

"Enjoy it?!" exclaimed Susie in disbelief. "We're trapped a billion light years away from everyone we know and love, I'm sleeping on a hotel sofa tonight, my roommates are you, a talking tiger, and the school loser, the only man letting us stay here hates our guts, and you want me to _enjoy it_?! You're the reason we're in this mess in the first place!"

"Excuse me?" snapped Calvin. "How is any of this **my** fault? I didn't open that dimensional rift! If I had that kind of power, I'd open another one and send us home!"

"Okay," said Susie, "so maybe you didn't open the rift, but you ARE the one refusing to work on a way home!"

"I'm not refusing!" protested Calvin. "I just don't feel like working on it right now! After that duel I just went through, I think I deserve a night off! And you know what? Your snappy tone isn't helping!"

Susie stamped her foot in frustration. "I can't believe you!" she screamed. "I'll tell you something: just because you're incapable of real emotions, that doesn't mean we all are! You don't know what it's like to miss home, to miss your family, to be scared!"

" ** _OF COURSE I'M SCARED!_** " screamed Calvin, leaping up from the couch. The outburst was so sudden that Susie, Hobbes, and Moe all started. It was as if a dam holding in all of Calvin's emotions had suddenly burst, and now everything was pouring out.

"Don't you think this freaks me out?!" he exclaimed. "I mean, nothing about this makes sense! We've traveled to another universe! That violates every scientific principle I know! My entire knowledge of science is wrong, or at least heavily lacking! And what about you? How can you suddenly see Hobbes? Why _can't_ Moe see him? Heck, why can't everyone _always_ see him? I don't know!" He was pacing now. "And what about this universe? Why do Synchros and Pendulums and Xyz Monsters exist in the time of the original series? _I don't know!_ And what about my deck? I have Number Cards, for crying out loud! Those things possessed people in the anime! Am I gonna get possessed? **I don't know!** Everyone thinks I have all the answers, but I just don't know anything! All I know is that everyone expects me to build a time machine- something I've never done without the Imagination Pillar, BY THE WAY- and if I can't do it we'll all be trapped here forever and we'll never see our families again AND IT WILL BE ALL MY FAULT **BECAUSE I WASN'T SMART ENOUGH!** "

Calvin looked Susie in the face, and Susie realized to her astonishment that there were tears in his eyes. "So, Susan Derkins," he said, "don't you _dare_ say that I don't feel anything, or that I'm not doing enough to get us home. Because the way I see it, I'm going to be doing a whole lot more than any of you. And if I want to take one night off to just not have to think about things, _you have no damn right to complain about that_."

He turned away. "Now then," he said, "if you'll excuse me, I'd like to be alone for a little while."

He stomped over to the bedroom area and slammed the door behind him. The rest of the group watched him go in silence.

"Huh," said Moe finally.

"Wow," said Hobbes. "I haven't seen Calvin that broken up since the baby raccoon. You must have really done a number on him."

"I...I didn't mean to," stammered Susie. "Should I...go apologize or...?"  
"Leave him be for a while," said the tiger. "I think it's best to let him cool off a bit before we go back into the blast radius." He walked over to an end table, where a wireless phone sat beside a card with a list of numbers for various hotel services. "Want to order room service?"

Susie sighed, casting a guilty look at the bedroom door. "Sure, why not?" she said. "The manager is paying for it, after all."

About half an hour later, the room had settled into a kind of tentative order. Hobbes was eating the steak he'd ordered from room service, tearing it up with his claws and teeth. Susie was seated at the table in the kitchen, somberly eating her salad and burger. Moe was flopped on the couch with an ice cream sundae, which he was messily devouring; he had managed to turn on the TV and surf the channels until he found a show featuring wrestling, which turned out to be surprisingly similar to wrestling shows in their universe. The only major difference, according to Moe- apparently an avid wrestling fan- was that most of the wrestlers were named after Duel Monsters.

"Guys, I think we should check on Calvin," said Susie. "I'm getting worried about him; he still hasn't come out yet." It was true: the door to the bedroom was still closed, and the macaroni and cheese they had ordered and left out for him was slowly congealing in its bowl.

"I agree," said Hobbes, "but I think it should be you who goes in there."

"Me?" exclaimed Susie in surprise. "Why me?"

"Ya know," interjected Moe, "it's really weird hearing you talk to yourself like that."

Hobbes ignored this. "You're the one who set him off," he said. "If I know Calvin, you need to be the one who extends the olive branch for there to be even a chance he'll take it."

"But aren't you his best friend?" asked Susie.

"Yeah, exactly," said Hobbes. "He cares a lot about me, just like I care a lot about him, and right now he feels guilty about dragging me into this. If I go in there, in his state it'll just be a reminder of how badly he thinks he screwed up. He needs to see someone he doesn't feel utterly guilty about trapping here."

"Gee, thanks," muttered Susie, but she saw his point. A day ago, she would never have thought that she'd be the one going to console Calvin. But then, a day ago she would never have thought that she'd be sent on said condoling mission by an anthropomorphic tiger in a luxury apartment in a parallel universe. This day, it seemed, was still full of surprises.

* * *

When Susie entered the bedroom, the light was fading. Sunset was reaching its end as the last vestiges of light dipped below the horizon. Despite this, Calvin- normally obsessed with lighting a room up as much as possible- hadn't gone to turn on the light. Instead he sat on the edge of the bed facing the window, looking through the glass as darkness fell over an unfamiliar skyline.

"Hey," said Susie. "You okay, Calvin?"

"Go away," said Calvin. Strangely, there was none of his typical anger or hostility in his voice; he wasn't even issuing a demand, simply letting Susie know what he wanted. "I'm not in the mood to talk."

"Listen," said Susie. "I came in here to apologize."

Calvin's head turned ever so slightly. Susie took this as a cue to keep talking.

"It was wrong of me to say that you couldn't feel anything, or that you weren't doing enough to get us home. I know it must be a lot of responsibility to have to build a time machine all by yourself; I wouldn't even know where to start! And I guess that's why I shouted you down: I don't know how to do anything to get us home. Hobbes doesn't seem to either, and I guarantee the oaf on the couch doesn't. You're the only one who can possibly get us home. And seeing you not focusing on that, feeling totally helpless, combined with the rivalry we've had for years... I guess I never considered the fact that you're a person too."

Susie sat down beside Calvin. "I guess what I'm saying," she said, "is that...maybe it's time we learned to work together."

Calvin turned to look at her in surprise. He'd clearly stopped crying a while ago; his face was dry, and his eyes were only slightly swollen. "What, like friends?" he asked. "Because I think there's too much bad blood between us for that to be a possibility."

"Not necessarily friends," said Susie. "Just...allies. Think of it this way: you apparently befriended a tiger and built a time machine all on your own. I may not be able to do those things, but I'm pretty smart too, and I'm good at research. Imagine how much we could accomplish if we weren't constantly at each other's throats!"

Calvin considered. "Allies," he mused. "I suppose that wouldn't be too awful. If we work things out around here, we could probably tolerate each other long enough to get home to our universe." He held up his hand. "Awkward non-enemy hand bump?" he suggested.

"Awkward non-enemy hand bump," Susie agreed.

The two placed their hands together and moved them away, creating sort of a slow-motion elbow-height high five. This done, the two sort of sat there and stared out the window at Domino City.

"You have to admit," said Susie, "it's a pretty view."

Calvin gave a noncommittal shrug. "It's okay," he said. "It's just too...big. I know that back home Hobbes was pretty much my only friend, but even then I had people I knew. My parents, Galaxoid and Nebular, a couple of people I knew over the Internet...people who were at least sort of on my side. Even the people I didn't like- Rosalyn, Mrs. Wormwood- at least I knew them. Here there's no one we know. We have no friends, no allies... the four of us are completely on our own."

"Oh," said Susie with a small smile, "I don't think we're _completely_ on our own."

She gestured with her eyes towards the corner of the room. Turning to look, Calvin's eyes landed on the Duel Disk he had thrown across the room.

Calvin smiled. "Oh yeah," he said. "You know what, I think it's time we pay a visit to our friend in Room 413."

* * *

Ironically enough, locating Room 413 from Room 631 was much easier than locating Room 631 from the lobby. Calvin and company had navigated through most of the hotel while searching for their room, and they now had a pretty good layout of where the rooms were on each floor. The fourth floor's theme was Fusion Monsters; the walls were a rich purple, and the hologram displays showed images of the various cards used for Fusion Summoning: Polymerization and the like.

The door of Room 413 had a message on it, written on a piece of paper and taped under the nameplate. The paper read "HALT: No one may enter without the express written permission of Richard Yuzen and the possession of at least 1 Chronomaly card."

"Think he'll make an exception for us returning his Duel Disk?" wondered Susie.

"Only one way to find out," said Calvin. He reached up and knocked several times on the door.

Within a few seconds, the door opened and Richard himself opened. "Oh, hello there," he said brightly. "I take it from the fact that you're here that you won. Pretty impressive for a little kid. Now then, do you happen to have a Chronomaly card?"

Calvin's first impulse was to say no and argue about how pointless this was. Then he suddenly remembered something. "Yeah, I do!" he exclaimed. "Hang on, one second..."

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his Extra Deck. Flipping through it he quickly pulled out the card he was looking for. "Here!" he exclaimed. "Number 36: Chronomaly Chateau Huyuk! Is that good enough for you?"

"Certainly," said Richard with a smile. He opened the door all the way. "Come right on in!"

Calvin turned to Susie, who was giving him what he could reasonably interpret as a 'Can we really trust this guy?' look. He shrugged and headed in; the rest of the group quickly followed him.

The inside of Richard's room could best be described as "chaotic". The walls were decorated with images of what looked to be excavation sites. On one wall was a large poster board covered with photos with pins in them, connected by red strings and covered with sticky notes. Richard directed their attention to a small end table. "Just put the Duel Disk down there," he said. "Then we can talk."

Calvin placed the Duel Disk on the table as instructed. He then followed Richard to a larger table; he and the others sat down, except Hobbes, who remained standing on account of there being no chairs left.

"Well," said Richard, "it looks like you won. First of all, I'd like to say congratulations; it's not often you hear about a kid as young as you out-dueling someone as skilled as the Manager. I just have to know: how exactly did you do it?"

"Oh, it was awesome!" exclaimed Calvin. "So, the first turn starts, and he goes first and summons out this Dwarf Bandit thing..."

"Goblin Bandit," pointed out Susie.

"Yeah, whatever," said Calvin. "And that thing has 1300 Attack Points. But then it's my turn, and I summon out Spirit Ryu, _and_ I use its special ability to up its Attack and Defense points to 2000 and totally trash his Goblin Thief! But it turns out his face-down card- oh, did I mention he had a face-down card? Because he totally had a face-down card- was Damage Vaccine Omega Max, which got rid of all the damage he took. So I placed _two_ cards face-down, and then..."

Calvin told Richard about the entire duel in this excited manner. As the story went on, Richard's smile began to fade and he considered Calvin with a very strange expression.

"And then," finished Calvin, "I upgraded Red-Eyes Black Dragon to Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon and totally crushed Ares and wiped out his Life Points! So what do you think? Pretty awesome skills from this kid right here, right?"

Richard nodded, but he seemed distracted. "Tell me," he said, "can I see your deck?"

Calvin blinked. "Yeah, sure," he said, reaching into his back pocket. He pulled out his deck and placed it on the far side of the square table, in front of Richard. "Check it out!"

Richard picked up the deck. He shuffled through the cards; as he did, his frown continued to deepen.

"Pretty sweet, right?" asked Calvin eagerly. "Not to brag, but do I have a killer deck or what?"

"Um..." said Richard, reaching the end of the deck. "Well, you...certainly like dragons a lot."

"Yep!" exclaimed Calvin. "Most of the monsters in my deck are Dragon-Type! It's all part of my grand plan to bring out Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon and utterly trash any monster my opponent throws out! I think today proves that it's a solid strategy."

Richard sighed and handed the deck back. "Calvin," he said, "what you did with the Manager _is_ impressive. Reading your opponent and predicting how he'll react is an important part of dueling. But you won't win anything if your only strategy is 'Throw a giant dragon at it'. You need to have other options."

Calvin blinked. "Uh...did you miss the part about how I beat the scary Manager guy with that strategy?" he asked.

"No," said Richard patiently, "but I think a big part of why you won is because he went easy on you."

Calvin froze. "But...no!" he protested. "I took out his toughest monster!"

"Ares?" laughed Richard. "Ares isn't even close to being his strongest monster! He didn't even use any of the Big Three! No, either he didn't realize he would need powerful monsters to defeat you until it was too late or else he got exceptionally unlucky draws."

Calvin felt like his world was crashing down around him. "Great," he muttered. "The one good thing about this place just went up in smoke."

"I'm not saying any of this to discourage you," added Richard, quickly backpedaling when he realized the effect his words were having. "It's not that you're a bad duelist; it's just that you need better cards."

"Well, where am I going to get new cards?" exclaimed Calvin. "The whole reason we're in this mess is because we have no money!"

Richard considered for a moment. "Tell you what," he said. "I'm a simple guy who doesn't need all that much. I make more money with my job than I need, and I have quite a bit saved up. How about every week or so, I'll give you an allowance of $20 or so for you to spend on new cards and other dueling supplies? You could get your own Duel Disk and everything. Heck, if you want I could even teach you new strategies!"

"Why?" asked Calvin suspiciously. "Why should we trust you?"

"I lent you my Duel Disk," pointed out Richard.

"Yeah, and I was a bit suspicious of that too," said Calvin. "I don't know exactly how things work in Domino City, but where I'm from people don't usually do things for strangers for free unless they get something out of it."

"Alright," admitted Richard, holding up his hands. "I admit, there is a little something I'd like in exchange: some time in the future, when you have an awesome deck and have gotten some practice, I'd like to duel you myself."

This one caught Calvin off guard. "Why?" he asked.

"Because you've got spirit," said Richard with a grin. "I could see that the moment you walked into the lobby. You have a real passion for dueling, and I want to be able to test my skills against your full potential!"

Calvin considered this for a moment. On the one hand he had no idea who this "Richard Yuzen" guy was. On the other hand, dueling opened a lot of doors in this universe, and getting better cards would probably improve his chances of winning. Besides, at this point the group really couldn't afford to turn down any potential help.

"Alright," said Calvin, grinning too, "you've got yourself a deal!"

The two leaned across the table and shook hands.

"So," said Richard, leaning back, "what else do you want to talk about?"

"Do people normally live in a hotel?" asked Moe. "Like, always and stuff?"

"I can't speak for most hotels," chuckled Richard. "But in regards to Duel Estates, I'd say there are a fair few who stay here full-time, especially here on the upper floors. It's surprisingly affordable; if you can afford the rent, you're pretty much taken care of. And as I mentioned, my job pays well enough for my needs."

"Hey," interjected Susie, "what is your job exactly? You never said what it is you do."

"Interesting question," said Richard with a grin. "I used to work with Industrial Illusions as a card tester. But ultimately I found that I got more enjoyment out of the cards themselves, and more specifically the stories they're based on. So I left that job to follow my dream and become a duel historian!"

"A duel historian?" asked Susie in surprise. "What's that?"

"A person who explores the origins of Duel Monsters," said Richard. "You see, Pegasus didn't just create this game from the ground up; the various cards are based on myths and legends from all corners of the globe! I've traveled all over the world doing research for various papers, searching for the most interesting legends. I've been to Egypt, Peru, the Amazon...I've even joined a submarine expedition to the bottom of the ocean to search for the mythical ruins of Atlantis!"

"You know, the bottom of the ocean isn't all it's cracked up to be," remarked Calvin. "From what I've seen, the few parts that aren't boring want you dead."

Richard raised an eyebrow. "And exactly how would you know that?"

"Erm, no reason," said Calvin quickly. "Just a hunch. So, you like Chronomaly cards, huh?"

"Oh, absolutely!" exclaimed Richard enthusiastically. "They're such fascinating concepts: objects that seem to be displaced across time, cities that could never have been built, artifacts hinting at long-vanished power! I've been fascinated by these artifacts all my life, and now that I'm a duel historian I travel the world investigating them!"

He fixed Calvin, Susie, and Moe with a mischievous smile. "But enough about me," he added. "What's _your_ story? Your real one, I mean; not that yarn you told the manager."

"Uh..." said all three kids at once. Hobbes raised an eyebrow, interested to see how they would get out of this predicament.

"None of your business!" exclaimed Moe.

"It's a long story," interjected Susie.

"Quite frankly," added Calvin, "you wouldn't believe us if we told you."

Richard considered them for a long moment. "Very well," he said. "I really do hope you decide to confine in me sooner or later; it seems like it must be a fascinating story."

There were a couple seconds of awkward silence.

Finally Calvin stood up. "Well, it's been fun," he said.

Richard nodded brightly. "Thanks for returning my Duel Disk," he said. "Make sure to drop by any time you want! Oh," he added, "here's the first payment of that allowance I promised you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty dollar bill; he held it out to Calvin.

"Thanks!" exclaimed Calvin, taking the money. "Come on, guys, let's go."

The four stood up and walked out of the room. Richard walked after them, waved them goodbye one last time, and then closed the door behind them.

"Well, that was thoroughly weird," remarked Hobbes.

"You're telling me," said Susie. "I seriously cannot read that guy."

"Me neither," said Calvin. "Now come on, let's go back to the room; I do believe there's some macaroni and cheese waiting for me in the room!"

And with that, Calvin and Hobbes sprinted off toward the elevator. Moe just sort of gave the door a general scowl and ran off after them. Susie paused for just a moment, once again wondering what on earth she had gotten herself involved in. Then she turned and ran after them.

* * *

Next Episode: "Susie's First Duel" - When Calvin refuses to sell his prized Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon card to a snobby rich girl from down the hall, the girl challenges Susie to a duel for the card's fate.


	5. Episode 04

Episode 4: Susie's First Duel Part 1

 **A/N: Before we go on any further, I'd just like to say that I know how weirdly characterized Richard was in the last chapter. Trust me, I have secret reasons for how I wrote him.**

 **Top. Secret. Reasons.**

* * *

At first, Calvin wasn't sure why the surface he had been sleeping on didn't feel like his bed. His first thought was that Hobbes had kicked him off the bed, as he tended to do sometimes. However, this hypothesis was quickly thrown out the window as he realized that the surface he had been sleeping on did not feel like his floor either. In fact, it actually significantly more comfortable than his bed. The fact that he seemed to have been sleeping in his clothes was further cause for surprise.

He opened his eyes, and for a moment became even more confused at the sight of a distinctly unfamiliar ceiling. Then the events of yesterday came flooding back to him. The reason the bed felt so soft was because he'd been sleeping in a hotel room, and the reason he was sleeping in a hotel room was that he, Hobbes, Susie, and Moe were trapped in a parallel universe and because he had won the rights to the room in a card game.

Calvin paused for a moment, shaking his head to clear any last vestiges of sleep, and checked again to see if the preceding train of thought made any sense at all. It didn't, but he now could no longer deny that it was true.

He quickly leapt out of bed. Hobbes, it soon proved, was no longer sleeping next to him; judging by the open bedroom door, he had left the room to join the others. Calvin decided to follow the tiger's example and headed back out into the living area.

The scene in the room felt surprisingly normal. Susie and Hobbes sat at the breakfast table, Susie eating a bowl of oatmeal and looking over with slight worry at Hobbes, who was currently in the process of messily devouring what looked to be half a pig's worth of bacon. Moe was once again lying on the couch, which was currently folded out into a sofa bed; he was still watching wrestling.

"Happy Monday, Calvin!" said Hobbes, looking up from his bacon to grin at Calvin. "I'm kind of surprised you woke up so early on a weekday; it's only 8:30."

"Yeah, well," said Calvin with an equally wide grin, "not having to go to school will do that."

"So what are we going do to?" asked Susie. "Are you going to start working on that time machine? And wow, I cannot believe I just asked that so casually."

Calvin considered. "Well, it's not that simple," he said. "Back home I was able to jerry-rig a time machine with supplies around the house, but that was largely because I had the Imagination Pillar."

"I'm not going to ask what that is," interjected Susie.

"Good, because I'm not sure myself," admitted Calvin. "Anyway, without the Pillar, I'm going to have to make all the machinery from scratch, and that's going to take quite a while. I do have plans on where to get the supplies, but that's going to take time to set up. And considering that we don't have any money, we'll probably just have to scrounge around for any technology we can find or that Richard can provide for us. In any event, there's another priority we have to focus on at the moment."

"And what's that?" asked Susie. Moe momentarily pulled his eyes away from wrestling to listen.

"Dueling!" exclaimed Calvin. "You, Hobbes, and Moe need to get decks of your own, and I apparently need to improve mine. Plus, you and Moe need to learn how to duel in the first place!"

Susie looked like she wanted to go into a rant, but she forced herself to calm down, remembering all the stress that Calvin had mentioned about getting them back home. "Calvin," she said in the calmest voice she could muster, "I really don't think that learning to play card games should be our highest priority."

"You clearly don't know this universe as well as I do," retorted Calvin. "In this world, dueling is everything. Need I remind you that the only reason you weren't using a trash bag as your pillow last night was because I won this room in a duel?"

Susie had to admit he had a point. "Well, where are you going to get new cards? It's not like we know our way around."

"Oh," said Calvin with a small smile, "I think I know _exactly_ where to go for that."

He quickly strolled over to the phone, quickly read up on how to dial other rooms, input the code for Room 413, and quickly put the phone to his ear. After a few moments the line picked up.

"Hello, Richard?" asked Calvin. "Hey yeah, great to talk to you again too. Listen, do you think we could possibly swing by your apartment quickly? We're going to need directions somewhere..."

* * *

The building looked exactly the same way it did in the anime. Unlike the other buildings in Domino City, most of which seemed to be generic high-rise concrete-and-glass structures, this two-story building, with its shingled roof and large triangular window, had a much more personal feel. A large sign above the door proudly proclaimed its name.

"'The Game Shop'?" asked Susie in surprise. She and the others had followed Calvin, who had himself been following Richard's directions, from Duel Estates to this place. "How did you know about this place?"

"From the show!" said Calvin. "This is where Yugi and his grandpa lived in the original series. I figured it's as good a place as any to start building our decks as any."

"Here's a question," Hobbes added. "Why would I need a deck? No one except you and Susie can see me, and I'm probably not going to be dueling either of you."

Calvin considered this. "Good point," he admitted. "Tell you what: Susie and I will go inside and buy some new cards. You and Moe can search the nearby alleys for any technology that could be used for the time machine."

"Great," muttered Moe. "I'm stuck babysitting your dumb tiger doll."

"Anything in particular you're looking for?" asked Hobbes.

"Not right now," said Calvin. "At this point we need all kinds of stuff: engine parts, cell phones, computers... anything that I can repurpose into components for the machine."

"Alright then," said Hobbes. "Come on, Moe, let's go start looking."

He had walked several paces before he realized that Moe wasn't following. The bully was just standing there with a typically blank look.

"He said 'Let's go start looking'," explained Calvin.

"Oh," said Moe awkwardly. He turned and wandered towards a nearby alley; Hobbes, who had been walking in the opposite direction, sighed and followed him.

"Alright," said Calvin. "Now that that's done, let's head on inside!"

\- Dividing Line -

Just like the outside, the inside of the store was exactly as Calvin remembered from the show...almost. There were still the glass cases displaying cards, and the posters of Duel Monsters on the wall. The only difference was in the posters themselves: rather than showing exclusively monsters from the original series, they now showed cards from the entire franchise, including Synchro, Xyz, and Pendulum Monsters. Yet another anomaly; Calvin figured he'd have to deal with that soon enough.

"Oh, customers!" exclaimed a familiar voice from the back. "Hold on, I'll be right there!"

An old man scurried out from the back room to the cash register. He was short, with wild gray hair, purple eyes, and a gray mustache. He wore a white long-sleeved shirt, suspenders, and a yellow bandana with a strange symbol on it. He was unmistakably Solomon Muto, grandfather and teacher of the King of Games himself.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Uh, yes!" said Calvin, shaking his head to clear it of the awe he felt at actually encountering a character from the show. "I'm Calvin, and this is Susie. We're new here in town and wanted to buy some new cards. I need to improve my deck, and Susie needs to build her first one."

"I've never actually dueled before," admitted Susie. "In fact, I really don't know much about Duel Monsters at all."

"Well then, you've come to the right place!" said Solomon brightly. "First, let me see your deck."

Calvin reached towards his cards but suddenly had a thought. Making a show of struggling with getting his deck out of his pocket, he quickly transferred one card from the deck to his other pocket, making sure Solomon didn't see. The card he had moved was the Blue-Eyes White Dragon; Calvin knew that the only such cards in this universe belonged to Seto Kaiba, and the fact that he had one would raise questions he wasn't at all sure he could answer.

He pulled out the remaining cards and placed them face-up on the counter. Solomon picked them up and began to flip through them, occasionally making noises like "Hmm..." or "Ooh!"

Finally he placed the cards back down on the counter. "Well now," he said, "you certainly are fond of Dragon-Type monsters, aren't you?"

"I have been told," muttered Calvin.

"Now, there's nothing wrong with that," the old man added quickly. "We just need to set you up with some good support. Let's see, where did I put those...?"

Calvin and Solomon quickly launched into a complex discussion about card mechanics. Most of it was utterly incomprehensible to Susie; she overheard phrases like "Quick-Play Spells" and "Pendulum Scale" and decided she was officially in over her head.

Instead, she turned to look at the cards on display under the counter. There were more card types than she could count; even the backgrounds were incredibly diverse, ranging from yellow and orange to black to white to green to maroon. There were monsters, spells, traps, and even a few cards that seemed to fall in-between.

Her eyes fell on one specific card. She wasn't sure why she was drawn to it; it wasn't displayed any more prominently than any of the other cards on the shelf. For some reason she just felt something pulling her towards it, compelling her to look at this card. The card depicted a girl of about thirteen, wearing an elaborate bright red dress; Susie thought the girl wouldn't have looked out of place in _Sailor Moon_ or some similar show. She wore what looked to be some kind of amulet around her neck, engraved with a symbol that Susie couldn't quite make out, and carried a staff tipped with a spherical crimson jewel.

Susie leaned over to read the words printed on the card. "'Enchantment Girl Relena'," she read aloud. "1800 Attack Points and 1500 Defense Points. Spellcaster / Effect. Effect: 'When you successfully Special Summon a Level 4 or below monster from your Graveyard, you may Special Summon this card from your hand. This card gains 400 ATK and DEF for every "Enchantment Girl" monster in your Graveyard.'"

The moment Susie finished reading the effect aloud, something happened that was profoundly odd even from Susie's recently widened perspective. Without warning, the girl in the card turned to look at Susie. She gave Susie an excited smile, winked, and made a "Shh" gesture before returning to the same pose she had been in before. The whole thing lasted less than two seconds, and by the end of it there was no indication that anything had happened to the card at all.

Susie yelped and leapt backwards, tripping over her own shoes and crashing to the floor. Calvin, who had been in the middle of examining a Trap Card, turned to look. "What's going on?" he asked.

"That girl just moved!" Susie exclaimed.

Calvin blinked. "What girl?"

"The girl in the card!" Susie pointed in the general direction of the card. "She turned and winked at me! I saw it, I swear!"

"Perhaps it was just a trick of the light," said Solomon with a small smile. "The artwork for these cards can be convincingly lifelike." He turned back to Calvin. "I have many more cards in the back room," he said. "Tell you what: you head on back there and find Box #137. Pick out the cards you think you'll need, and then come back out and pay me when you're done."

"Great, thanks!" exclaimed Calvin. Before Solomon could react, he flung himself over the counter and sprinted into the back room, clearly eager to begin browsing for new cards.

"Now then," added Solomon, turning back to Susie, "has anything jumped out at you?"

Susie would have laughed at his choice of words if she hadn't been so freaked out. Truth be told, though, she was kind of intrigued by what had happened. She turned to look at Solomon. "Actually," she asked, "do you have any more of these...'Enchantment Girl' cards?"

"Ah yes," said Solomon, nodding wisely. "Those are indeed powerful cards. I'll show you where to find some." He paused. "Is something else bothering you?"

Susie tried to shake the image of the card winking at her out of her mind. "Yeah," she said. "It's just...I've never dueled before. I've only ever even seen one duel before, and that was Calvin dueling yesterday! I barely even know the rules!"

"Well then," said Solomon with a smile, "you've come to the right place. What do you want to know?"

Susie had made up her mind. For once in her life, the time had come to trust Calvin's intuition. He may have been a selfish, obnoxious jerk to her for most of their lives, but right now he seemed to be the only person she could count on. "Everything I need to," she said.

* * *

About half an hour later, Calvin and Susie walked out of the Game Shop carrying shopping bags. In addition to about twenty dollars' worth of cards, Solomon had also provided them with three brand new Duel Disks free of charge, on the grounds that they would need them for duels with other people.

"Man, I can't believe it!" exclaimed Calvin excitedly. "Free portable hologram generators just because we like card games? _This is the greatest store in the Omniverse!_ "

Susie was listening distractedly, looking through her new deck and considering all the stuff the old man had told her about Duel Monsters. "So let me get this straight," she said. "Synchro Summoning involves a Tuner and non-Tuner monster whose combined Levels add up to the Level of the Synchro Monster you're trying to summon."

"Yep," said Calvin, pulling out his own deck.

"And Xyz Summoning involves Overlaying two monsters whose Levels are _both_ the same as the desired Xyz Monster's Rank," continued Susie.

"That's about the shape of it," confirmed Calvin, flipping through his new cards.

"And Pendulum Summoning involves...what again?"

"Susie," sighed Calvin, "I have no earthly idea of how to explain Pendulum Summoning. I suspect wizards are involved with that one."

At that moment, Moe sprinted out of a nearby alley. Calvin had never seen him move so fast in his life. He had also never seen the bully look scared before, but here they were.

"Guys, this is weird!" he shouted. "I keep turning around and that dumb doll is somewhere else!"

Hobbes strolled out of the alley after Moe. "Yeah, it turns out that's how it works when you're not around," he said, turning to Calvin.

"Interesting," mused Calvin. "And also a topic of discussion for another time. Come on, guys; time to head back to the hotel."

The four turned and, as one, began the twenty-minute walk back towards Duel Estates.

"Well," remarked Calvin, "these cards definitely confirm that this universe has changed from the one in the show. When I was in the back room, I saw a poster advertising a discount on a full set of the Number Cards! We don't even have those in our world!"

Susie considered asking what those were, but decided against it. "So why do you think that is?" she asked. "Are we not in the show's universe after all?"

"No, I don't think that's it," said Calvin. "The fact that we just went to Grandpa Muto's shop proves that this is the same universe the show happened in. It's just the card mechanics that are different."

"So what do you think happened?" asked Susie.

"I have a theory," Calvin admitted. He had come up with the idea late last night and hadn't been confident enough in the idea to voice it until now. "I think that the four of us might not have been all that got sucked into the rift."

Susie turned to look at him in surprise. "So who else came through?" she asked.

"Not who," added Calvin quickly. "It's _what_. I think that when that rift opened, the rules of Duel Monsters from our reality sort of...leaked across into this universe. It must have somehow copied the mechanics from our world and somehow overwritten the rules of this version of the game with them."

Susie considered this. "But how would that even work?" she asked.

"How would _any_ of this work?" countered Calvin. "I'm the smart guy of the group, and even I don't know how any of this is possible! We don't have to understand all of it; we just have to understand enough to get home."

Susie considered this as well. "Alright," she said after a while. "So what do we do now?"

"What we do," said Calvin, "is practice. We need to learn how these decks work, what combos we can make. Plus you need to be brought even more up to speed. Grandpa Muto might be the old master, but he doesn't seem to know much about the metagame. I mean for crying out loud, do you know how many copies of Dark Hole I saw in that back room? _None at all!_ "

"Okay, what is this 'Dark Hole' you keep talking about?" asked Susie.

"It's a Field Spell that destroys all monsters on the field," said Calvin. "Back in our world it's pretty much a deck staple; almost everyone uses at least one. But in the show, it's only been used a couple times. Hopefully that will give me an advantage over people in this universe. By the way, what kind of deck did you get?"

"Oh," said Susie with a small smile, "let's just say it's particularly...magical."

Calvin considered this, then shrugged. He figured he would find out in due time.

* * *

Two hours later, the four sat in the Common Area of the sixth floor of Duel Estates. This was a large room near the rough center of the building with several armchairs and tables set up sporadically throughout. Calvin was sitting in a chair by himself; he had spread all of his cards out on the table and was pondering different strategies, considering what to do with which hands, what traps he could set to turn the enemy's attacks against them, and so on. Susie was doing roughly the same thing, except she was talking through the process with Hobbes, who was seated across from her. Moe, who had no cards, was searching for loose change in the couch cushions.

"Alright," said Susie. "So if I have these two Level 4 monsters out on the field at the same time, then I can overlay them to Xyz Summon this monster from my Extra Deck, right?"

"Exactly right!" exclaimed Hobbes. "And see, that monster gains 1000 Attack and Defense Points if you use Relena as an Xyz Material!"

"Oh yeah!" said Susie. "Now, if I have _these_ monsters out, I can fuse them, right?"

"Only if you have Polymerization or a similar Spell Card," said Hobbes. "Remember, Fusion Summoning is the only one you can't just do on the fly."

"Oh yeah," said Susie. "Man, this game is really intricate; I can't believe Calvin actually likes it! Normally he hates organized activities!"

"I'm willing to make an exception if said activity involves giant dragons," Calvin called over.

Susie had to suppress a smile at that comment. "You know," she remarked, "Calvin's been acting a lot differently since we came here. He's less...annoying, I guess."

"Yeah, Calvin's not so bad when you get to know him," said Hobbes. "Or I guess you could say he's not so bad once he gets to know you. He's just not very good at first impressions."

"I heard that!" shouted Calvin.

"The remark would have been wasted if you hadn't," Hobbes called back with a grin.

Calvin rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. He was glad that Hobbes at least was here; if he'd gotten sucked into this universe on his own, he wasn't sure if he could've handled it. He turned back to the cards, trying to remember what he'd been thinking about. There was some sort of combo he'd been on the verge of figuring out...

"Oh my gosh," exclaimed a girl's voice, "is that card there a Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon?"

Calvin looked up, and to his surprised he recognized the person speaking. It was the same bored, rich-looking girl he had seen leaving the lobby the previous day when he and the others had first arrived at Duel Estates. She looked to be around ten, with elaborately styled blonde curls and a pink dress that looked like it cost more than the Manager's asking price for their room.

"Uh...yeah," said Calvin. "It's a really cool card. Er... do you want something?"

The girl, who had been staring intently at the card the whole time, looked up at Calvin. "Oh yeah, right," she said, giving a smile that looked the way limes taste: like they'd very much prefer to be lemons, but know that it would hurt their social standing. "I'm Penelope, Penelope Gaspare. My dad is Frederick Gaspare IV, CEO of the Gaspare Jewelry Company."

"Cool," said Calvin. "My name's Calvin, and I asked for neither your name nor your family history. Erm... is there something you want?" he added, noticing how the girl was leaning over the table.

"Yeah," said Penelope, her tone of voice efficient and businesslike. "That dragon card there. How about one hundred for it?"

Calvin blinked. "Erm...my Red-Eyes?" he asked, not quite catching on.

"Yes," said Penelope, rolling her eyes. "That Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon you've got on the table. How much money do you want for it? A hundred dollars?"

"What?" exclaimed Calvin. "No!"

"Fine," said Penelope, "how about two hundred dollars?"

"Still no!" said Calvin, picking up the card from the table and holding it defensively near his chest. By this point Susie, Moe, and Hobbes had all turned to look at the proceedings with looks of intrigue.

Penelope rolled her eyes once again, this time more deliberately. She reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a wallet that looked be made from some exotic leather; she rummaged inside and pulled out a large stack of cash. "Here," she said. "Three-hundred-eighty-five dollars; I'm a little light on cash today."

"The fact that you're showing me the money I don't feel like accepting isn't going to change the fact that my answer is still _no_ ," said Calvin.

"Fine!" exclaimed Penelope, shoving the money back into the wallet and stowing the wallet back in her pocket. "There's an ATM in the lobby; we'll just go down there and we can negotiate the price."

"Okay, I think we're failing to communicate here!" said Calvin. "Let me spell it out for you: my card is not for sale!"

Penelope froze. This was clearly an outcome that had simply not occurred to her. "But...why?" she asked. "I just offered you as much money as you want! Why wouldn't you sell to me?"

"Because it's my card!" exclaimed Calvin. "It's a reminder of home! I'm not going to just give it away!"

"But you're not just giving it away!" exclaimed Penelope, who still seemed to be completely missing the point. "I'm going to pay you for it!"

"Yeah?" challenged Calvin. "Well, I'd rather have this card than any amount of money you can give me!"

"What's going on here?"

Calvin physically cringed at that voice. It sounded suspiciously like the Manager had snuck up behind him. He prayed to the Egyptian gods that the Manager hadn't snuck up behind him.

He turned around to see that the Manager had snuck up behind him. He looked exactly as he had the previous day, right down to the smug look on his face. "Is there something I can help you with?" he asked. For a moment Calvin was surprised by this change of tone...until he saw that he was looking at Penelope.

Penelope stomped her foot in frustration. "This boy is refusing to sell his card to me!" she exclaimed. "I offered to pay him whatever he wants, but he says he'd rather have the card than money!"

The Manager looked over, his eyebrow raised. "Is this true?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Calvin, rolling his eyes; he figured even if he tried to deny it, the Manager would assume it was.

"Well, that doesn't seem very fair," remarked the Manager. "You seem to have plenty of other cards, many of which you seem to have purchased quite recently. Couldn't you simply buy a new card?"

"Oh come on!" exclaimed Calvin in frustration. "You don't actually agree with this girl! You're just siding with her to spite _me_!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," remarked the Manager with a thin smile. "Although now that I think about it, your refusal of such a generous offer seems to imply that you're not quite so desperate for funds as you implied yesterday. If you genuinely feel you would rather have cards than money, I would be more than happy to charge you rent after all."

Calvin gritted his teeth so hard Hobbes was surprised he didn't see actual steam coming out of his ears. "What is so hard about this?!" he screamed. "This...is...my...card! It! Is! Not! For! Sale!"

"Very well," said the Manager, giving an exaggerated sigh he clearly wanted everyone to know was exaggerated. "Then I'm afraid I have no choice but to-"

"Hold on!" exclaimed Susie, physically leaping in-between Calvin and the Manager. "I'm sure we can work something out that works for everyone." Her eyes widened. "I've got it! Penelope, I take it you're a duelist?"

"Yeah," said Penelope, taking in Susie the way the owner of an art museum would take in a stick figure which someone had submitted to their galleries. "What's it to you?"

"How about you and Calvin duel for the card?" Susie suggested. "Calvin, would you be up for that?"

"Sounds good to me!" exclaimed Calvin. "Bring it on, Pacifica!"

"It's Penelope," corrected the girl.

"Don't care," said Calvin, rolling his eyes. "People like you are all Pacifica Northwest to me. _And not the cool Season 2 Pacifica either!_ "

Pacifica looked with confusion at Calvin, then with mounting alarm at his cards spread out over the table. "Hey, hold on!" she exclaimed. "I can't duel this guy!"

"Quite right," said the Manager, clearly realizing what Penelope was thinking. "It would simply be unfair."

"What?!" exclaimed Calvin. " **Why?!** "

"Well, it's your card at stake," remarked the Manager. "Obviously you have a vested interest in keeping it, so you would give yourself an unfair advantage."

Calvin's jaw flopped open as he tried to comprehend the amount of nonsense the Manager had crammed into that sentence. "I can't..." he moaned, "I don't... I just..."

"How about this?" proposed the Manager. "This young lady here suggested the duel, so how about she duel Penelope? If she wins, you get to keep your card; if not, Penelope will receive your card free of charge!"

"Sounds good," remarked Penelope, who appeared to be rapidly losing interest in the situation as the topic shifted away from her.

"M-me?" stammered Susie. "But I've never even..."

"Of course," added the Manager, "if you'd rather simply hand over the card now, I'm sure Penelope would be willing to pay you a reasonable sum for it..."

"You know what, fine!" shouted Calvin. "Susie will duel Pacifica, whatever!"

"What?!" exclaimed Susie, spinning around to Calvin.

Penelope rolled her eyes. "I'll go get my Duel Disk," she sighed; with that, she turned and walked towards the elevator.

The Manager gave the group a sinister smile. "I'll meet you all down by the dueling field in twenty minutes," he said. "I'll be acting as the referee, making sure everything is by-the-books...and that you follow up on the deal." With that said, he turned and stalked off towards the elevators as well.

"Man, that guy is a total jerk," remarked Moe. "And that's coming from me!"

Susie whipped around. "Calvin, what on earth were you thinking?!" she exclaimed. "I can't beat that girl in a duel! I just started playing _today_!"

"Hey, I'd never dueled before either, and I beat the Manager," countered Calvin.

"Oh, you know that's not the same thing!" exclaimed Susie. "You'd studied! You'd practiced! And why did you have to be so freaking stubborn with that card anyway?"

"I...don't know," admitted Calvin. Now that Penelope and the Manager were gone, some of the wind seemed to have drained out of him. "I think it has more to do with not wanting to give it to Penelope." He looked down at the card in his hand. "Besides," he added, "this was my favorite card from back home. Maybe to you it's just a card, but to me it's a symbol of where we came from...and what we're fighting to get back to."

The group was silent for a while.

"For what it's worth," interjected Hobbes, "I think you can win. You were the smartest kid in Calvin's class, and you seem to be getting a handle on the rules really fast!"

"Yeah, I know the rules, but what about strategy?" protested Susie. "I've got no combos planned out, I'm still trying to remember how Quick-Play Spells work, and to be honest I still have no idea what Pendulum Summoning is! How can I possibly win?!"

Calvin and Hobbes looked at each other. By the rapid change of facial expressions, they appeared to be having a silent argument with each other. Finally Calvin seemed to admit defeat; he turned back towards Susie, looking down at the carpet.

"Because I need you to," he said simply.

Susie froze. In all her years of knowing Calvin, she had never heard him ask for help, least of all from her. She knew first-hand how large his ego was; if he was willing to put it aside, even for a split second, it meant two things: he was absolutely desperate to keep this card, and he really did believe she could make sure that happened.

There was only one course of action. She took a deep breath. "Alright," she said. "I'll do it."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, the group found themselves walking up the path to the same platform where they had dueled the previous day. They quickly saw that Penelope and the Manager were already standing on the platform.

"Well, well, well," said Penelope with a smug grin. "Look who actually decided to show up!"

"I may not be experienced, but I'm not going to back down without a fight!" exclaimed Susie, walking up the steps to the platform. "And remember, if I win, Calvin gets to keep his Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon card, no questions asked!"

"And if I win," countered Penelope, "Calvin hands over the card free of charge!"

"And," added the Manager, "if I suspect that either of your little boyfriends down there are helping you win, you three will all get kicked out of my hotel faster than you can say 'And that's game!'"

" _Boyfriend?!_ " exclaimed Calvin angrily.

" _Little?!_ " exclaimed Moe just as angrily.

" _Two?!_ " exclaimed Hobbes, also angrily.

"That wasn't part of the deal!" protested Susie, but she knew from the look on the Manager's face that there was no arguing. She was just going to have to hope that her two hours' worth of dueling lessons would be enough to get her through this.

She quickly shoved her arm through the strap on the Duel Disk and placed her deck in the slot, holding the device at arm's length. The holographic projectors flew off the device and landed on the edges of the raised platform. Across from her, Penelope was doing the same; however, her Duel Disk was lavender in color and was studded with what appeared to be honest-to-God gemstones.

Susie held her Duel Disk over her head, trying her best to look intimidating and dramatic; she may not have watched much of the series, but she knew one phrase. "Alright, Penelope!" she exclaimed. "I hope you're ready for this, _because it's time to duel_!"

Calvin sighed. "She had to go with the cliché, didn't she?"

* * *

 **A/N: Alright, five chapters in! One more to go for today.**

 **Fun fact of the chapter: In the original draft of this chapter, when Calvin compared Penelope to Pacifica from Season 1 of** ** _Gravity Falls_** **, Hobbes was going to respond that she reminded him more of Diamond Tiara from** ** _My Little Pony_** **. However, as I was writing this episode, a new episode aired that went a HUGE way toward redeeming Diamond Tiara as a character, to the point that I actually felt kind of guilty about making the joke to begin with. Thanks a lot, MLP: you actually guilt-tripped me about hating Diamond Tiara. I literally did not believe that was possible.**


	6. Episode 05

Episode 5: Susie's First Duel Part 2

The scene at the Duel Estates Dueling Field was tense. Susie was squaring off against Penelope for the fate of Calvin's Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon Card. As Calvin, Hobbes, and Moe watched from the sidelines, Susie and Penelope both drew their first five cards.

"I'll go first!" exclaimed Susie. "I draw!"

"Ah-ah-ah!" shouted the Manager; Susie's hand froze in the midst of reaching for her sixth card. "You can't draw a card on your first turn!"

"Oh, right," said Susie awkwardly. "In that case, uh, I _don't_ draw."

She looked down at her hand, trying to decide what card to play. Her lessons with Hobbes and Solomon Muto came back to her, but she quickly realized this was not one of the hands she had formed a strategy around. She decided that her first order of business should be to get a monster out on the field to protect herself.

"Alright!" she exclaimed. "I summon Enchantment Girl Elana in Attack Mode!"

She slammed the card in question onto her Duel Disk. Immediately a circle of light appeared on the ground, and her monster rose out of it. The monster in question was a girl of about sixteen, wearing a bright yellow dress and carrying a staff with a yellow gem; around her neck she wore an amulet with a symbol of what looked like a bolt of lightning. The stats appeared on the screen, as usual: **800 ATK / 1500 DEF / LVL: 4**.

"Susie, what are you doing?!" exclaimed Calvin from the sidelines.

"What, what's wrong?" asked Susie, looking around in panic. "What did I do?"

"That monster has more Defense Points than Attack Points!" exclaimed Calvin. "You should have Set is face-down in Defense Mode so that, if it's destroyed, you won't take any battle damage!"

"Hey!" snapped the Manager. "No helping her! I could kick you out of your room whenever I want!"

Calvin shoved his fists into his pockets, muttering something that included the phrase "steaming dumpster of actual garbage" and "show him what unhelpful looks like".

"Seriously?" asked Penelope, rolling her eyes. "An Enchantment Girl card? You know they only make those to get people to watch that awful cartoon, right?"

Susie had not known this, and was quickly finding that she did not care about this or any other thing Penelope said. "Since I can't attack on the first turn," she said, "I'll place a Trap Card face down and end my turn!" She slipped the card into her Spell and Trap Zone.

"SUSIE!" screamed Calvin, looking like he was about to explode. "YOU DO NOT NEED TO TELL HER THAT IT'S A TRAP CARD!"

"Yeah, thanks for that!" said Penelope with a smug grin. "Now it's my turn! _Draw!_ " She pulled the card from her deck and placed it with the other five; she appeared rather disappointed.

"What's wrong, Penelope?" asked Susie, figuring it might be time to try some taunts. "Not a good hand?"

"Oh no," said Penelope, rolling her eyes. "I just hoped this duel would be more entertaining. At this rate I'd be surprised if you get a second turn."

She quickly slammed a card into her Spell and Trap Zone. "I play the Continuous Spell, The Entitlement of Wealth!" she exclaimed. "Thanks to this, whenever I would normally draw one card from my deck, including during my Draw Phase, I get to draw two cards instead!"

"What?" exclaimed Susie. "There's no way a card like that is fair!"

"Who cares?" challenged Penelope. "Anyway, now I summon Crooked Merchant of Sapphire in Attack Mode!"

Penelope's monster quickly appeared on the field: a man in a blue suit with a smug look and a mustache that clearly signaled he was up to no good. In one bag he held a large sack, inside of which could be seen various roughly-cut sapphires. He gave Susie a sinister wink as the stat screen appeared: **1200 ATK / 800 DEF / LVL: 5**.

"Hey, hold on!" exclaimed Susie. "I thought you couldn't Normal Summon Level 5 or higher monsters without Tributing!"

"Normally that's the case," said Penelope, "but thanks to my Crooked Merchant of Sapphire's special ability, I can Normal Summon him from my hand whenever I have no cards on the field! And now, I activate a Spell Card known as Hostile Takeover!" As she spoke, the card appeared on the field. "Thanks to this, I can target one face-down on your field, and if I correctly guess whether it's a Spell or Trap Card, it's immediately destroyed! And thanks to your little slip-up, I know for a fact that it's a Trap Card!"

Susie's trap flipped upwards, revealing it to be Mirror Force: a powerful trap which would have sent Penelope's attack right back at her. Crooked Merchant of Sapphire threw several stones from his bag at the card like shurikens; they embedded themselves in the card, which turned into golden light and vanished.

"Hey," remarked Hobbes, "wasn't Mirror Force banned, like, ages ago?"

"In our world," said Calvin. "Lord only knows how it is here. There's only one card we know for a fact is actually banned in the anime, and it never actually appeared on-screen as far as I know."

"And now that your trap is out of the way," exclaimed Penelope, "Crooked Merchant of Sapphire attacks your Enchantment Girl Elana!"

The Merchant gave a sinister grin, raised his hand, and fired a beam of blue energy out of his palm. The girl in yellow cried out as she was struck by the beam and faded from view in a burst of blue light. Susie winced as her Life Points dropped from 4000 to 3200.

"With that done," said Penelope, "I place one card face down and end my turn. Now draw, if you have the guts!"

"Alright!" exclaimed Susie. "I draw!"

She pulled the card from her deck. She smiled as she realized that she had just hit on a strategy. "Alright!" she exclaimed. "First, I..."

"Not so fast!" exclaimed Penelope. "I activate my Continuous Trap Card: Exposed Gems! Now whenever you Normal Summon a monster, you have to pay 300 Life Points!"

Light shot out of the revealed card and struck various points on the field. Wherever a beam of light struck, a very sharp-looking gemstone appeared out of the ground.

"Come on!" exclaimed Calvin in frustration. "Freaking Stealth Rock, man!"

"I know," agreed Hobbes. "This is why I don't play competitively: the metagame is so obnoxious to work around nowadays!"

The two paused.

"I wonder how many people are going to get this joke," remarked Calvin.

"Alright!" exclaimed Susie. "In that case, I...I..."

She looked down at her hand. She wasn't entirely sure what she could do at this point; Normal Summoning would hurt her, but she had to bring out a monster to prevent Penelope from attacking her directly.

Suddenly her eyes widened. She knew exactly what to do! All she had to do was hope Penelope wasn't already prepared for her strategy.

"First," said Susie, "I summon Enchantment Girl Fiona! You see, by discarding one Enchantment Girl monster with a higher level than this card from my hand- such as my Level 6 Enchantment Girl Genevieve- I can Special Summon this card from my hand instead of Normal Summoning it!"

A new Enchantment Girl appeared on the field. She wore a green dress and had a medallion with a symbol of a leaf. She looked somewhat older than Elana, more mature and experienced. Her stats appeared: **2000 ATK / 1600 DEF / LVL: 4**.

"Then," exclaimed Susie, "I activate the effect of my Enchantment Girl Genevieve!"

"What?!" cried Penelope. "But that monster's not even on the field!"

"Exactly!" exclaimed Susie. "She was sent to the Graveyard without ever engaging in battle. But thanks to her special ability, when she's sent from my hand to the Graveyard, I get to inflict 500 points of Direct Damage to your Life Points!"

A vortex of purple smoke appeared on the ground, surrounded by a rotating ring of violet runes. A burst of golden light shot out of the vortex and spiraled through the air before crashing directly into Penelope. The rich girl was flung backward as her Life Points fell to 3500.

"And now, Fiona," exclaimed Susie, "attack Penelope's Crooked Merchant of Sapphire! Mystical Earth Blast!"

The symbol on Fiona's staff began to glow with a bright green light. The girl drew back and swung the staff in a wide arc in the direction of the Merchant. A blast of green light shot out and smashed into the shifty-looking man; for a moment he struggled, but he quickly vanished before the blast. Penelope crashed to the ground as her Life Points fell again to 2700.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Hobbes. "She took out more than a quarter of Penelope's Life Points in one move! Now she's actually winning!"

"I end my turn with that," said Susie. "Now let's see you recover from that!"

Penelope pulled herself to her feet. "You know what?" she snapped. "Just for that, I'm not going easy on you any more!"

"I wouldn't want it any other way," countered Susie, speaking with confidence she certainly didn't feel.

"Alright!" exclaimed Penelope. "My draw! And thanks to the effect of The Entitlement of Wealth, I get to draw two cards instead of one!" She pulled two cards out of her deck and added them to her hand, for a total of four.

"I Set one monster face-down in Defense Mode," she said. She placed the card sideways in her Monster Zone; instead of a monster, the image of a sideways face-down card appeared on the field.

"Then," she continued, "I place one card face-down and end my turn."

Susie blinked in confusion. "Wait, what?" she asked. "How did she play a face-down card in her Monster Zone?"

"It's in Defense Mode, Susie," said Calvin, rolling his eyes in frustration. "If you summon monsters in Defense Position, you have to Set them face-down first and then flip them face-up later."

"Oh...okay!" said Susie. "In that case, it's my draw!"

She pulled the new card and added it to her existing hand, for a total of three. "Alright, Penelope!" she exclaimed. "First I summon Enchantment Girl Allea!"

A new girl materialized on the field. This one was the youngest so far, appearing no older than twelve, wearing an indigo dress and carrying a staff topped with a bright blue jewel; her medallion showed what appeared to be the crest of a wave. Her stats appeared: **1200 ATK / 800 DEF / LVL: 4**.

"Uh, are you a _complete_ idiot?" asked Penelope. "My Exposed Gems Trap Card is still in effect! You just Normal Summoned a monster, which means you get hit with 300 points of Damage!"

Enchantment Girl Allea suddenly recoiled, appearing to have stepped on a sharp gem sticking out of the ground. She staggered around clutching her foot as the gem dissolved into golden energy; the beam struck Susie's Duel Disk, reducing her Life Points to 2900.

"That's okay," said Susie, "I can afford to spare 300 points. And now, I attack with..."

"Not so fast!" exclaimed Penelope. "I reveal my Trap: Magician's Audit! If I have no face-up monsters on my field, I can reduce the Attack Points of every monster on your field by 200 times the number of cards in my hand! I'm currently holding two cards, so both of your monsters lose 400 ATK!"

Twin bolts of energy emerged from the card and struck Enchantment Girls Fiona and Allea. The two cried out as the bolts of energy reduced their respective Attack Points to 1600 and 800.

"Yeah?" challenged Susie. "Well, I'm on a roll! So Enchantment Girl Fiona attacks your face-down monster!"

Fiona lunged forward, swinging her glowing staff in a downward arc and striking the giant face-down card on the field. The card flipped over...and the monster was revealed. It looked similar to Penelope's previous monster: a man in a dark suit with a disturbing grin, twirling a classic desperado mustache between his fingers. Slung over his arm was a large bag of what appeared to be rubies. His stat screen appeared: **1800 ATK / 2200 DEF / LVL: 4**.

"Uh-oh!" moaned Susie. "Its Defense Points are higher than Fiona's Attack Points! And that means...um..."

"It means," exclaimed Penelope, "that you get hit with damage equal to the difference between my Crooked Merchant of Ruby's Defense and your monster's Attack! And right now that's a difference of 600 points!"

Susie winced as the stat screen appeared, showing her Life Points drop from 2900 to 2300. "In that case," she said, "I place one card face-down and end my turn."

"About time," muttered Penelope. She quickly drew her two cards from her deck. "First, I switch my Crooked Merchant of Ruby to Attack Mode!"

The monster on her field straightened up from its crouching position. Suddenly something strange happened: four red orbs decorated with orange stars- the Level indicator stars from the card- appeared in front of the monster. With a flash of light, an additional star appeared next to the existing four, before all five disappeared as quickly as they had appeared.

"You see," said Penelope, "I was able to Set my Level 5 Crooked Merchant of Ruby by reducing its Level to 4; now that's it's flipped up, it regains its old level. And now that you're open for an attack, Crooked Merchant of Ruby attacks Enchantment Girl Allea! Destroy her pathetic monster with Ruby Blaze!"

Penelope's monster nodded, spun dramatically, raised his hand, and fired a beam of pure red energy directly at the young Enchantment Girl. Allea cried out as the beam shot straight through her, causing her to shatter into golden light. The beam went on to strike Susie, who was flung backwards as her Life Points dropped to 1300.

Susie managed to catch herself and skid to a stop. "I activate my Trap Card!" she exclaimed. "Enchantment Girl Recovery! When an Enchantment Girl monster I control is destroyed in battle, instead of sending it to the Graveyard, this card lets me return her to my hand!" The card for Allea popped out of Susie's Graveyard slot; she quickly added it back to her hand.

"Fat lot of good that's going to do you!" exclaimed Penelope. "I activate Crooked Merchant of Ruby's special ability! By discarding one card from my hand, he gets to attack you again!"

"WHAT?!" cried Susie in horror.

Crooked Merchant of Ruby spun 360 degrees, winked, and fired a second beam, this one from his other hand, straight at Fiona.

"I activate Enchantment Girl Fiona's special ability!" exclaimed Susie, thinking quickly. "Once per tern, I can prevent her from being destroyed in battle! Fiona isn't going anywhere!"

"Yeah," exclaimed Penelope, "but you still take the damage from the attack!"

The beam changed direction in mid-air, arcing directly into Susie. She struggled to stay upright and keep hold of all her cards. The status screen showed her Life Points drop to 1100.

"And now I end my turn," Penelope said smugly. "Well how about it, loser: feel like giving up yet?"

"Not yet!" exclaimed Susie, standing up. "It's my turn; I draw!"

She pulled the card from her deck. She really hoped it was a good one; she could certainly use it right now.

She looked at the card...and smiled.

"Alright, Penelope!" Susie exclaimed. "I hope you enjoyed your time in the spotlight, because I'm about to steal the show!" She held her card up high. "I activate the Spell Card _Polymerization_!"

"Alright, Susie!" exclaimed Hobbes. "That's the way I taught you!"

Susie slammed the card into her Spell and Trap Zone. "And now," she exclaimed, "I use the power of this Spell Card to fuse the Enchantment Girl Fiona on my field with the Enchantment Girl Allea in my hand!"

In her hand, Allea's card began to glow with yellow light. A blob of yellow energy leapt out of the card and onto the field, taking the form of Enchantment Girl Allea herself. The two girls nodded to each other and leapt upwards, entering the vortex.

"By sending these two monsters to the Graveyard," said Susie, "I can summon a Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck! Come forth, _Enchantment Girl AF_!"

The vortex burst with light, and a new monster appeared on Susie's field. She vaguely resembled the two Enchantment Girls who had fused to create her, but was noticeably older. Her dress was a deep indigo mottled with green, and the gem on her staff alternated between bright blue and bright green. The symbol on her medallion looked to be a mix of Allea and Fiona's symbols. Her stats screen appeared: **3000 ATK / 2200 DEF / LVL: 8**.

"And now I activate Enchantment Girl AF's special ability!" exclaimed Susie. "When she's successfully Fusion Summoned, I can destroy one Spell or Trap Card on your field! And I choose The Entitlement of Wealth! Destroy the card with Turquoise Nova!"

The fused Enchantment Girl drew back her staff and fired a blast of blue light at the Spell Card. The card shattered into pieces, and the blast ricocheted directly into Penelope's face. The smug rich girl cried out as she fell down.

"And now," exclaimed Susie, "Enchantment Girl AF attacks your merchant! Show her the true power of the Enchantment Girls and destroy her monster!"

The fused Enchantment Girl drew back and fired a second blast of energy, this one striking Crooked Merchant of Ruby. The monster attempted to turn and run, but it was too slow: the blast caught it square in the back, destroying it. Penelope stood her ground as her Life Points fell from 2700 all the way down to 1500.

"And with that, I end my turn," declared Susie. "Now let's see what you've got!"

"Alright, sweet!" exclaimed Calvin. "With this monster on the field, Susie's gonna win for sure!"

"Well then, too bad it's not gonna be on the field for long!" exclaimed Penelope.

Calvin blinked. He really hoped he hadn't just given Penelope an idea.

"My draw!" the girl exclaimed; this time she drew only one card, since The Entitlement of Wealth had been destroyed and she could no longer double her draws. Judging by the sinister smile on her face, she had drawn exactly the card she wanted.

"I play the Spell Card Asset Recovery!" Penelope exclaimed. "When I have no cards on the field and less Life Points than my opponent, I can use this card to resurrect two monsters from my Graveyard as long as they each have less than 2000 Attack Points! So welcome back, my Crooked Merchants!"

Two dark circles ringed with purple runes appeared on the ground. The Crooked Merchants of Ruby and Sapphire rose out of these circles, which promptly vanished.

"But they're not going to be sticking around long," added Penelope, "because now I overlay my Level 5 Crooked Merchant of Ruby and Crooked Merchant of Sapphire! With these two monsters, I build the Overlay Network and Xyz Summon!"

Instantly the two monsters transformed into spheres of light, which leaped upwards into the sky. On the ground, a swirling vortex of red light formed on the ground. The two lights plunged down into the heart of the vortex, which then burst with a flash of light that momentarily blinded everyone watching.

"Now," exclaimed Penelope, "come forth, Crooked Merchant of Diamond!"

When the light faded, there was a new monster standing on the field. This man wore a white suit and dark sunglasses and carried a burlap sack over his shoulder. He had a pencil thin mustache and a shifty expression that put Penelope's last two monsters to shame. The two golden orbs of its Overlay Units floated around the monster at 45 degree angles. For a moment Susie was worried- after all, Penelope had given no indication of having Xyz Monsters- until she saw the stat screen flash up: **0 ATK / 2000 DEF / RNK: 5**.

"No Attack Points?" exclaimed Susie. "That's nothing! My Enchantment Girl AF will smash that creepy monster to bits in an instant!"

"Oh really?" asked Penelope smugly. "Then in that case I end my turn."

"What an idiot!" exclaimed Moe. "She didn't even put one of those Trap Card things on her field!"

Calvin looked over in surprise. He'd almost forgotten the bully was even there; he wasn't used to him being so quiet. And that wasn't the only thing that felt wrong about the situation.

"Susie, be careful!" Calvin called. "She's probably planning to-"

"Hey!" snapped the Manager, whom Calvin had also almost forgotten was there. "No giving her advice! This is your last warning!"

Calvin shoved his fists into his pockets. _Susie needs to watch out_ , he thought. _If she went to the trouble of Xyz Summoning a monster with 0 ATK, it probably has one heck of an effect._

"Time to end this!" exclaimed Susie. "My draw!" she pulled her card. "Now then, Enchantment Girl AF, destroy Crooked Merchant of Diamond!"

The Enchantment Girl drew back for one final attack. She swung her staff forward, firing her largest blast yet directly at the sinister man.

"You fell right into my trap!" exclaimed Penelope in triumph. "I activate Crooked Merchant of Diamond's special ability! By detaching one Overlay Unit, I can negate your attack; and if I should choose to detach both, I can also destroy your monster!"

The two golden orbs dipped out of their orbits and plunged into the Merchant's bag. The Merchant grinned and reached his hands out in front of him, catching the energy blast in mid-air. With a disturbing wink, he shoved his hands forward, firing the blast straight back at its caster. Enchantment Girl AF cried out as the blast struck her full in the face, instantly shattering her into golden light.

"And that's not even the best part!" Penelope cried with glee. "Thanks to this card, when the Battle Phase ends, you get hit with 500 points of Direct Damage equal to the number of Overlay Units I detached!"

"What?!" Susie cried in horror.

Instantly a bolt of energy shot out of the Crooked Merchant of Diamond's bag, striking Susie directly. Susie yelped as she was flung backwards, falling to the ground with a thud. Calvin and the others watched with horror as Susie's Life Points fell to just 100.

"Hey, what gives?" snapped Calvin. "There's no way a card like that is fair!"

"I know!" said Penelope smugly. "That's probably why Industrial Illusions only made twelve copies of it! And that's why I just had to have my dad buy up three of them for use in my deck!"

"That's even more unfair!" protested Calvin. "You shouldn't be allowed to have an advantage just because you can afford to buy broken cards!"

"Yeah, whatever," scoffed Penelope. "It's my turn now. I activate the Spell Card Xyz Buyout! Thanks to this, if an Xyz Monster I control has no Overlay Units, it can reach into the Graveyard and grab a couple!"

Another dark circle opened; out of this one emerged two more glowing golden orbs, which began to orbit the Crooked Merchant of Diamond. It looked as if nothing had changed over Susie's turn...except Susie now had 1000 less Life Points.

"And then I switch Crooked Merchant of Diamond into Defense Position," added Penelope. "Now get up, Susie; I want to finish you off as quickly as possible so I can get that Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon before dinner!"

"Okay, this is _really_ bad," said Hobbes nervously. "Susie's only got 100 Life Points left, _and_ she has no cards on her field!"

Susie struggled to her feet. Part of her wanted to give in immediately. Maybe Penelope would still be willing to pay for the card after all; after all, they _could_ use the money for the time machine...

"Don't give up, Susie!"

Susie turned in disbelief, having to see what she thought she had just heard with her own eyes. Calvin was standing there on the sidelines, apparently cheering her on.

"Come on!" he exclaimed. "If you can outperform me at homework and...well, almost anything other than inventing, then surely you can beat Pacifica here in a duel!"

"Um, yeah!" said Moe. "Uh...beat her and stuff!"

"You can do it, Susie!" shouted Hobbes. "We all believe in you, whether Calvin admits it or not!"

"Listen," said Calvin. "I know things are hard to process; I've spent years adapting to this kind of life, and I still have a hard time believing it sometimes. I know you miss home, and I know you've never dueled before. But you have to hear me out when I say that you can't just give in because things are tough! If there's one thing I've learned from being part of my crazy world, it's that whenever life pushes you down, you have to get back up and shove life back. I know you, and I know that if you could put up with me all those years, you must be one of the strongest or most stubborn people I've ever met. And that's why I know you're going to get back in the game and keep right on fighting until the bitter end!"

People walking through the garden had stopped to listen to Calvin shouting. Even the Manager was listening, apparently having forgotten his "No advice" policy for a moment. Susie was staring at Calvin in disbelief. She had never once imagined Calvin having anything like this as part of his personality. If the jerk next door was willing to step down from his throne and start supporting her, then maybe she really could handle this.

 _Yeah, that's right, Susie!_ exclaimed a new voice. _You can't give up now; we're about to win!_

Susie looked around, confused. No one else appeared to have heard the voice. She closed her eyes for just a moment, to clear her mind...

...and when she opened them, she was somewhere else.

She was standing in the middle of a glade of trees. This should have alarmed her, but for some reason it didn't. There was something calming about this place; it was as if there was something in the air that made Susie feel utterly at ease.

"Hey, Susie!" exclaimed the voice from behind her.

Susie turned around. Standing in front of her was a girl in an elaborate red dress. She had a staff slung over her shoulder, and around her neck was an elaborate golden medallion with a flame symbol. Susie recognized her immediately, both from her deck and the card shop.

"Are you...Enchantment Girl Relena?" she asked in surprise.

"Hey, don't be so formal!" exclaimed the girl, giving Susie a playful poke. "Just Relena is fine! No need to refer to me by my title!"

"I don't understand," protested Susie. "I keep seeing you! First you moved in the card shop, and now you're here- or I guess I'm here- but...you're just a card, aren't you? You can't be real!"

"And yet you're here," Relena reminded Susie. "You came here from a completely different universe; even your little friend told you that should be impossible. So by that logic, you can't be real either. How am I any different?"

Susie considered this for a moment. "So...you're from another universe too?" she guessed.

"Nope!" exclaimed Relena with a smile. "Well...not exactly. More like another plane of existence in this universe. But I'm not gonna get into all that right now! All that matters is that you need to win this duel! Calvin's got big things he has to do in the near future, and he's going to need Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon if he wants to succeed. Plus, I really don't want to lose to that snobby rich girl!"

"But...how?" protested Susie. "I've only got 100 Life Points left, and my field is as empty as...well, as some kind of empty thing! How can I possibly win? I've never even played before!"

"I know," said Relena. "But you know what? Before I got my powers, I never expected to be anything special either. I thought I was just an ordinary girl who'd never amount to anything. When I became an Enchantment Girl, I felt like my life was falling apart. But since then, I've realized that as long as you have friends supporting you, you're never really out of the running. Besides," she added with a mischievous smile, "you've already got almost everything you need to win!"

Susie blinked in surprise. "I do?" she asked.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Relena. "Just take a look!"

Susie blinked...and just like that she was back on the battlefield. No time appeared to have passed while she was in...wherever. She looked down at her hand, carefully scrutinizing the cards.

An idea suddenly formed in her mind. She hadn't practiced this combo with Hobbes, but she instinctively knew it would work. Relena had been right: almost everything she needed to win was already in place. All she needed was one card.

"My turn!" she exclaimed. " _Draw!_ "

She drew what she immediately knew would be the final card from her deck. One way or another, the duel would end before her next turn. And if this card was what she hoped it would be...

Slowly she turned the card over in her hand.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" snapped Penelope. "Make your move already!"

Suddenly she blinked. Susie was smiling.

"Alright, Penelope!" she exclaimed. "You want me to make a move? I'll make a move!" She held up the card she had drawn. "I activate a little Spell called Enchantment Girl's Last Message! Thanks to this, one Enchantment Girl monster in my Graveyard is Special Summoned to the field, but when my Main Phase 1 ends, she gets sent back to the Graveyard."

"Well that's stupid!" exclaimed Penelope. "What's the point of a monster if it can't battle?"

"Plenty!" exclaimed Susie. "I use this card to resurrect Enchantment Girl Allea from my Graveyard!"

The dark circle appeared once more. Allea rose out of the circle, although she appeared to be a ghost: her body was slightly see-through, and her eyes appeared to lack pupils or irises.

"And now I activate the special effect of Enchantment Girl Relena!" exclaimed Susie. "When a monster is Special Summoned from my Graveyard, I can Special Summon her from my hand!"

Susie slammed the card into her Duel Disk. The circle of light appeared, and out of it rose Relena herself. She looked exactly as she had in Susie's vision/imagination: a girl of about fifteen in a red _Sailor Moon_ -style dress, with a red-gem-tipped staff and a medallion with an emblem of a flame. She turned to wink at Susie, just as she had in the card shop; this time, Susie winked back. Relena's stat screen appeared: **1800 ATK / 1500 DEF / LVL: 4**.

"Next," declared Susie, "I equip Relena with the Equip Spell Enchantment Crown! Thanks to this card, Relena is unaffected by card effects, such as that of your Crooked Merchant of Diamond!"

The object in question- a crown appearing to be made of pure crystal- appeared atop Relena's head.

"And now I move on to the Battle Phase!" declared Susie. "That means that Enchantment Girl Allea returns to the Graveyard!"

Allea closed her eyes and sank back into the purple vortex, which hadn't closed this time. The vortex finally disappeared, leaving Relena alone on the field.

"Are you kidding?!" exclaimed Penelope, laughing in disbelief. "That monster only has 1800 Attack Points! You'll just end up hurting yourself and handing me victory! Is that what this is: a pathetic attempt at surrender?"

"Not exactly," said Susie with a mischievous smile. "You see, Relena here has a special ability: for every other Enchantment Girl in my Graveyard, Relena here gains 400 Attack Points! And right now there are _five_ Enchantment Girls in my Graveyard! Now go, Relena: draw upon the power of your fallen allies so that you may avenge them!"

Relena held up her staff, the gem of which began to glow. Suddenly streams of energy poured out of the ground and flowed into the staff. As the group watched, Relena's Attack Points increased by 2000.

"3800 ATK?!" exclaimed Penelope. Then she shook her head. "No matter!" she exclaimed. "So you destroy my monster and I can't activate its effect. Big deal! I won't take any damage; it's in Defense Mode!"

"Don't be so sure!" exclaimed Susie. "I activate the other ability of Enchantment Crown: when a monster it's equipped to attacks a monster in Defense Mode with lower Defense Points than her Attack Points, the difference is inflicted to you as damage!"

"WHAT?!" cried Penelope in horror.

"Now, Relena!" exclaimed Susie. "Let's finish this duel together! Attack with _Mystical Rainbow Blast_ _!_ "

Relena nodded, pointed her staff forward, and fired out a beam of energy. Unlike the other Enchantment Girls' attacks, which had all matched their general color scheme, Relena's beam was composed of all the colors of the Enchantment Girls in the Graveyard, with her own red beam added to the mix. The beam pierced directly through Crooked Merchant of Diamond; the monster cried out as it disintegrated, its bag of gems falling to the ground.

Penelope cried out as the beam slammed into her, sending her flying back. She crashed to the ground as her Life Points dropped all the way down to 0.

A screen appeared before Susie; rather than showing a statistic, it simply read "YOU WIN!" The remaining holograms on the field dispersed as the projectors flew back to their respective duel disks.

It took a moment for it to sink in. "I...I did it!" Susie exclaimed in excitement. "I actually won the duel!"

"I knew you could do it!" called Hobbes.

"Meh," said Calvin with a shrug. "Not bad for an amateur."

Susie walked over to where Penelope lay, trying to pull herself to her feet. "A deal's a deal," she said. "Calvin gets to keep his card, and you don't get to ask about it any more."

"I don't understand!" whined Penelope. "I had the best cards! I'm a better duelist than you! I'm just better than you in general! How could I lose?!"

"You know what?" asked Susie. "You're right. You did have more powerful cards, and more experience. But you know what you didn't have?"

"What?" asked Penelope suspiciously.

"Friends," said Susie. "Maybe they won't all admit it yet, but those guys down there are my only friends in this world. I was on the edge of giving up back there, but they convinced me to keep going. And because I kept going, I was able to pull off something incredible. It doesn't matter how many expensive cards your daddy buys you; at the end of the day, you're still all alone."

Penelope spluttered for a moment, then stormed away grumbling to herself. The Manager rolled his eyes, clearly having been rooting for Penelope; he turned and walked away too.

Susie stepped down off the platform to rejoin the rest of the group. "Well?" she asked eagerly. "How did I do?"

"Not bad at all!" said Hobbes. "A little rough at times, but hey, you learned from your mistakes. You're certainly better than Calvin was when he was just starting out."

"HEY!" shouted Calvin. "YOU WANT TO SAY THAT TO MY FACE?!"

"I believe I just did!" retorted Hobbes. "Or did you mean at your face level? Because I might have to get down on all fours for that."

" _OH, THAT IS IT!_ " roared Calvin. He leapt up and tackled Hobbes, and just like that the two were fighting in a heap on the ground.

Susie rolled her eyes and smiled. "Those two," she said with mock exasperation. "What am I gonna do with them?"

* * *

That night, Susie had a dream.

She dreamed she was back in the forest where she had met Relena. This time she managed to get a better look at the place: the forest appeared to actually be a vast courtyard surrounded by high stone walls, as if of a castle. A gravel path led through the woods; Susie felt a strange compulsion to follow it, to see where it went.

"Hey, you're here!" Susie turned to see that Relena was once again standing behind her. "I didn't expect to see you back so soon! You must've been tired from the duel!"

"Yeah," admitted Susie. "You wouldn't think playing a card game would take so much energy. Um," she added, still uncertain about this situation, "am I dreaming right now? Or is this real?"

"Well, of course you're dreaming!" exclaimed Relena. "But why would that mean it isn't also real?"

Susie considered this. "What's really going on with you?" she asked. "Are you a real person trapped in a card, or a card who came to life, or what?"

"That," said Relena with a tired smile, "is a very hard question to answer. I guess the quick and easy explanation is that I'm a monster spirit. Essentially, every Duel Monster has a corresponding monster spirit which inhabits another dimension; the cards allow duelists to invoke the power of that monster."

"Okay," said Susie, nodding. "And can all monster spirits communicate with duelists through the cards?"

"Oh no," said Relena quickly. "That's very tricky and takes a HUGE amount of magical energy! Most humans can't even see us anyway. In fact, I'd say you're one of only a few people on Earth with the power to communicate with monster spirits!"

"But...why?" asked Susie. "Why can I see you? Does it have something to do with why I can apparently see Hobbes all of a sudden? And why are you contacting me in the first place?"

"Whoa, calm down!" exclaimed Relena. "I don't know the answer to the first question and I have no idea what you're talking about with the second one. But as for the third question...the truth is we need your help."

" _My_ help?!" exclaimed Susie in disbelief.

"Yeah," said Relena; her cheerful expression was gone now, replaced with a more serious look. "Something has gone wrong with the world of the monster spirits. Spirits are dying, and we don't know what's causing it. You're the only one with the power to save us _and_ our entire world."

"But...I'm just an ordinary girl!" protested Susie. "How can I do anything like that?"

Relena suddenly chuckled, as if Susie had said something funny. "You know," she remarked, "that is word for word what I said."

And just like that, the scene faded away and Susie's mind drifted back to sleep.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, I did a thing, and the second two-parter is done. Expect most of the story from here on out to be two-parters or more; it's just how I roll. More chapters will be coming out pretty much whenever I finish them. You may also have noticed that I'm starting to describe the holograms as physically affecting people; my reason for this is "If the show gets to do it, I get to do it."**

 **Also, before the story goes any further, I'd like to say that I know the writing for these early chapters is not always of the same quality as the last few chapters of** ** _Calvin's Quest_** **. That's because, as you will soon see, this story represents a** ** _much_** **more ambitious project than CQ, and is intended to feel like a full** ** _Yu-Gi-Oh!_** **series with multiple arcs. While I know that by saying that, there's a risk that I've already doomed the series the way I doomed the sequels to CQ, but I feel there is a significant difference between the two stories. I've certainly put more thought into this story than** ** _Calvin's Quest_** **: that story was published on the spur of the moment, was based around the items from an obscure PS2 video game, and lacked any concrete plan for the story. That is NOT the case with this story: as of me writing this, I've had the Omniverse Event planned for well over a year, and this particular story planned for at least six months. Additionally, I have the entire first arc (covering twenty or so episodes) and second arc (around thirty episodes) planned out completely, and I've got a ton of ideas floating around for the third and final arc.**

 **So if the writing feels off for the first few episodes or so, know that it's because I'm currently tackling the largest project I've ever committed myself to and am trying to pace myself. Oh, and one more thing: this time I'm not quitting or taking six-month breaks in-between episodes. This time I'm here to stay, and I'm going to keep writing until the bitter end.**

 **As usual, R &R. **

**(Unrelated side note: while writing this chapter I was doing some impressions and realized that my Yuma voice is indistinguishable from my Button Mash voice. I find this far more amusing than I should, and I actually think I might have just discovered the next Omniverse Event story for me to write after the current six. Or not. I'll see. But probably not.)**

* * *

Next Episode: "The Wrong Crowd" - Moe falls in with a gang of thugs but quickly finds himself in over his head, forcing Calvin to place his own life on the line in a high-stakes duel.


	7. Episode 06

Episode 06: The Wrong Crowd Part 1

 **A/N: Guess who's back, baby!**

It was hard to believe three days had passed since the group had arrived in this universe, although Calvin wasn't sure what the alternative was. At times it felt like no time had passed at all; at others, it felt as if they had always lived at Duel Estates. Over the past few days, life had begun to settle into a routine: every day Calvin would go out and gather information about how this world differed from that of the show; Susie and Hobbes would practice dueling, occasionally consulting Richard for strategies; and Moe would just sort of wander around the neighborhood.

This was how things were when Calvin reentered the apartment, fresh from his latest intel-gathering mission. Hobbes and Susie were seated on the couch, Susie's cards spread out across the table; an anime was playing on the TV, apparently the _Enchantment Girl_ show that Penelope had mentioned.

"Well, I'm back," said Calvin.

"Oh good!" exclaimed Hobbes. "What's the news this time?"

"Well," said Calvin, "it turns out that Turbo Duels and Action Duels both exist in this timeline. However, due to the danger and expense of the equipment needed for each, they're mostly reserved for celebrity duels."

"Makes sense," mused Hobbes.

"Okay, wait, I'm still learning the lore," said Susie. "What's a Turbo Duel?"

"Ooh, ooh!" exclaimed Hobbes. "Can I say it?"

"No way!" exclaimed Calvin. "You know how much I wanted to say it!"

"Okay, tell you what," said Hobbes. "We'll both say it at the same time."

"Deal!" exclaimed Calvin.

The two counted to three on their fingers, then drew a deep breath and, in their loudest and hammiest voices possible, simultaneously shouted "CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCLES!"

Susie looked at the two in confusion, attempting to figure out why the two were rolling on the floor laughing. "Okay," she said awkwardly, "what about Action Duels?"

"They're basically a type of performance," said Hobbes, pulling himself together enough to stand up. "They use a special type of Solid Vision generator capable of giving the holographs physical mass, which is why they're so rare."

"I see," said Susie.

Calvin pulled himself to his feet as well. "You guys ordered lunch yet?" he asked.

"Yep!" said Hobbes. "There's a grilled cheese sandwich on the table for you."

"Thanks," said Calvin, walking slowly over to the table.

Susie watched him, noting the way he walked. "Are you feeling okay?" she asked. "You seem kind of out of it."

"Yeah, I'm fine," sighed Calvin. "I'm just kind of tired; I didn't sleep very well last night. Had this really weird nightmare."

"What was it about?" asked Susie.

Calvin just shook his head. "It's nothing," he said. "Just forget it. What about you? Has Relena contacted you again?"

"Nope," said Susie. "Ever since that second night, I haven't seen a trace of her. Well," she added, gesturing to the TV, "except in the show."

"Oh yeah, I asked about the show," said Calvin. "You know, you should really try to track down the original subtitled version; I heard the translating company utterly butchered the dub."

Suddenly there came a knock on the door. Susie leapt up. "Oh, that must be Richard!" she exclaimed. "He said he'd be here to help me with practice!"

She quickly ran to the door and opened it. As she had predicted, there stood the duel historian himself.

"Hey, Susie!" he exclaimed. "Ready to get to work?"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Susie. "I was hoping today we could go over Pendulum Summoning because, to be totally honest, I still have absolutely no idea how it works."

"I only promise to try," chuckled Richard. As he stepped inside, he turned to look at the TV. "Ah, you've taken to watching _Enchantment Girl_ , I see."

"Yeah!" exclaimed Susie. "It's kind of shaky at first, but it's really grown on me! Plus I've been told the later series get really good!"

"If you ask me, the third series is overrated," remarked Richard. "The whole Dark Enchantment Girls arc came out of nowhere. Besides, it was kind of a ridiculous premise; I mean, magical girls in fighter jets? Who comes up with this stuff? Word of advice: just hang on until the fourth series. That one's the best, no matter what anyone else says."

"Got it!" exclaimed Susie.

"By the way," added Richard, "wasn't there a third kid with you two when you checked in?"

"Oh yeah," said Calvin. "Moe isn't really a duelist, so he just kind of does whatever during the day. He mainly just comes back here for food, sleep, and wrestling shows. Not that I mind; it's nice not having that loser around."

"You don't seem particularly fond of him," remarked Richard.

"I'm not," said Calvin, rolling his eyes. "He's a bully who likes nothing more than beating up other kids for fun and profit. It was a complete accident he got stuck with us at all."

"Still, you should probably keep an eye on him," said Richard. "At the very least, you don't want him getting into any trouble."

"To be honest," said Calvin, "after all he's put me through, I'd say he deserves a bit of trouble."

* * *

Moe was alone.

That was okay; he didn't mind being alone. He was used to it. The other kids at school would scream and run away whenever they saw him coming; they had long ago come to associate the sight of Moe with incoming pain. Whenever he arrived home, he would inevitably be greeted with an effectively empty house: his sister was still at daycare, his father didn't get home until late in the evening, and his mother was always either out shopping or else deep in conversation with one of her friends on the phone. Moe would go into the kitchen, grab some snacks (assuming his mom had bought any that week), trudge up the stairs to his room, and lock the door. Then he'd walk over to his shelf, where the Treasure Hog sat.

The Treasure Hog was an old, cracked piggy bank that his dad had given him for his birthday years earlier. It had been a rough year for the family, so that had been the only present he'd gotten that year, but he'd loved it all the same. He remembered how excited he'd been the first time he put a quarter into it; it had been like having his own secret stash of pirate gold.

Moe might not have been the brightest kid on the block, but he remembered that birthday like it was yesterday. He could vividly remember unwrapping the strange oblong present and seeing the blue glazed ceramic underneath, running upstairs to place it on his shelf. He'd turned and looked up into his father's eyes.

"Dad," he'd said, "do you think we could go to the moon for my next birthday?"

His father had smiled at that, but even then Moe had been able to see the pain in that smile. "I don't know, son," he said, reaching down to ruffle Moe's hair. "The moon is very far away, and those rockets are expensive. But I'll tell you what: if we both work really hard and save up a lot of money, maybe we'll be able to go to the moon together one day."

And so Moe had began saving up. Every cent he earned he placed in the Treasure Hog, constantly saving up for that moon trip. When his quarter-a-week allowance hadn't filled it up fast enough, he'd tried to get a job. When he couldn't find anything he was good at, he started bullying the other kids out of their money. Deep down he knew his parents wouldn't have liked where the money came from, but that was okay: neither of them would know. After all, his dad was always out working two jobs, and his mom never asked what Moe was doing or how school had been. Even years later, when he had long realized that his father had simply been giving him hope for a better future, he continued to take the money. After all, it wasn't like they'd like him any more now.

These were the thoughts drifting through Moe's head as he walked along the sidewalk. Though the street was crowded with people walking this way and that, it seemed to be empty apart from himself.

On the sidewalk in front of him, two little boys were dueling; they didn't have Duel Disks, so they just laid the cards out on the sidewalk. Moe had seen this situation so many times before; he knew exactly how to handle it.

"Hey, you two!" he shouted. "Out of my way!"

The children looked up at Moe. Upon seeing the much larger boy headed their way, they screamed and ran as fast as they could in the opposite direction. They didn't even bother to pick up their cards as they ran.

Moe reached down and picked up one of the fallen cards. It depicted a clockwork robot designed to look like a muscular wrestler; with some effort, Moe could tell that the card's name was "Clockwork Bruiser". Staring at the card, Moe couldn't help but feel reminded of himself: a hollow shell whose only purpose was to hurt those around him.

He pocketed the card, leaving the others where they lay on the sidewalk. Maybe he would head back to the room; wrestling would probably be on by now...

"Hey, kid!"

Moe stopped and turned to look. In the entrance to an alley to his left stood a man in a long dark coat. He strode forward and gave Moe a sinister smile.

Moe blinked. "Who, me?" he asked.

"Yeah, you," he said. "I saw what you did back there, and I'm kind of impressed."

"You are?" Moe asked in surprise.

"Yeah," said the man. "It's not every day I come across a kid who can make other kids abandon their cards just by walking down the street. You look like you're no stranger to causing trouble. I respect that."

"Uh...thanks, I guess," said Moe.

"Tell you what," said the man. "I've got some friends who happen to specialize in causing trouble. We could use someone like you."

"Uh," said Moe, "I've kind of got some guys waiting for me."

The man raised an eyebrow. He looked up and down the street. "Really?" he asked. "Where exactly are they?"

Moe was about to answer, but then he stopped himself. Were the others really wondering where he was? Did they really care what he got up to any more than his mom did? The more he thought about it, the more he felt it would be nice to be noticed.

"Alright!" he exclaimed. "I'm in!"

The man smiled in a way Moe wasn't sure he liked. "Welcome to the crew, kid."

* * *

"Guys, I'm starting to get worried about Moe."

It was 9:00 P.M.; night had fallen outside of Duel Estates. The windows of the large buildings surrounding the hotel glowed a gentle yellow, going out one by one as even the late-shift employees headed home for the evening. In Room 631, Susie and Richard were seated on the couch; laid out of the table were the cards of Susie's deck arranged to form various combinations, representing strategies Susie was experimenting with. Nearby, Hobbes lay on the floor watching Calvin tinker with his Duel Disk using a small screwdriver he had managed to sneak out of the cart when housekeeping had come by. On the screen, _Enchantment Girl_ continued to play; by now they were on to the second season, having finished the Illusion Arc an hour or so ago.

"Why?" asked Calvin. "It's not exactly like he'd be contributing much to the conversation. In all likelihood he'd just demand we change the channel to wrestling; if we didn't, he'd beat me senseless until I acquiesced."

"Yeah," said Susie, "but he hasn't stayed out this long before; I'm starting to get worried that something may have happened to him."

"Relax," said Calvin. "Odds are he's just behind on picking up the lunch money he beat out of other kids. He'll be back as soon as he figures out how to get to the hotel from the playground."

"You know, you're being kind of unfair to the guy," remarked Susie.

"Unfair to HIM?!" Calvin exclaimed in disbelief. "That gorilla's given me more black and blue marks than I can count! He's stolen my toys, my lunch money, and even threatened to steal Hobbes on several occasions! He makes me dread going to school more than I already do! If you ask me, he deserves everything I've given him and more!"

At that moment, the door banged open. Moe strode in, looking tired but nevertheless seeming to be in a good mood.

"See?" said Calvin. "He's _fine_."

"Moe!" exclaimed Susie. "Are you alright? Where were you?"

"None of your business!" snapped Moe.

"Hey!" protested Susie. "I was just making sure you were okay!"

"Yeah, well, forget it!" exclaimed Moe. "I don't need any of you losers! I've got some new friends, and they don't tell me what to do or ignore me for some dumb machines!"

"New friends?" asked Susie in surprise. "What new friends?"

Moe just turned and stormed off into the corner of the room. Calvin saw that he had built a makeshift bed there using the cushions thrown off the sofa when Susie had unfolded into a bed. He threw himself onto it, pulled a blanket over himself, turned over, and apparently went to sleep.

"Guys, now I'm getting nervous," said Susie. "What does he mean 'new friends'? Who did he meet?"

"Do you need to know _that_ badly?" asked Calvin.

Susie shot him a look.

Calvin let out an exaggerated sigh. "Fine," he said. "Tomorrow we'll tail him and see where he goes. Does that satisfy your curiosity?"

"I just want to make sure he's okay," said Susie. "He wants to get home just as much as we do."

"Yeah, whatever," muttered Calvin, but even he had to admit he was curious at this point. These 'new friends' were a troubling development. Who were they? If they were willing to seek out Moe, they couldn't be good news.

"Now then," said Richard, "who wants to get back to the show? We're almost at the reveal of the Enchantment Goddesses!"

* * *

The next day, Moe left the apartment as usual after breakfast. However, this time, Calvin, Hobbes, Susie, and Moe decided to tail him. They followed him down through the hotel lobby, taking the stairs down instead of the elevator, and out the door to the hotel. Several times as they trailed the bully down the sidewalk they thought he was going to catch sight of them, but he never seemed to even consider the possibility he was being followed, even though at times they were only a couple of steps away.

"I still think this is pointless," muttered Calvin; at this point, Moe was about a quarter of a block ahead.

"I hope it is," said Susie, "but we have to make sure he's okay."

"He's never okay," said Calvin, rolling his eyes, but he kept walking.

After a moment, Moe turned and ducked into an alleyway. The others cautiously glanced around, waited a moment, then followed him. As they trailed him through a series of back alleys, Richard grew noticeably more concerned.

"What is it?" asked Susie.

"This place is familiar," said Richard quietly. "If this is what I think it is, then this situation is very serious indeed."

They rounded a corner...and immediately thought they had wound up in a completely different city.

They had emerged into a large empty clearing between several buildings, in which a makeshift city seemed to have been erected. Men and women in variously grungy outfits walked to and fro; several of them carried weapons on their belts or in their arms, ranging from brass knuckles to what looked suspiciously like a submachine gun. The center of this city was an old trailer, which seemed to have been converted into some kind of command center.

Calvin was about to step out, but Richard grabbed him and yanked him back. He looked up to see that the duel historian had gone very pale.

"No," he whispered. "Not again."

"What is this place?" asked Calvin in confusion.

"Scorpius," said Richard quietly.

"What does that mean?" asked Susie.

"It means," said Richard somberly, looking out over the space, "that your friend has fallen in with some very dangerous new friends."

 _To be continued..._

 **A/N: Sorry the ending is so weird and abrupt. I just wanted this chapter over and done with. JEGUS this one was hard to write; after this it should get much easier. Stay tuned for Part 2!**


	8. Episode 07

Episode 07: The Wrong Crowd Part 2

"I don't understand!" protested Susie. "What is Scorpius?"

"Something very bad," said Richard. "We need to get out of here now; we'll talk to your friend about it when he gets home."

"No way!" exclaimed Calvin. "You made me walk all the way out here; there's no way we're walking back with no answers!"

"No," said Richard, shaking his head. "You don't need to know about this, and I don't want to talk about it. I left all this behind years ago."

"What do you mean?" asked Susie in confusion. "Left _what_ behind years ago? What is this place? What's Moe doing here?"

"We want answers, man!" exclaimed Hobbes, though he realized this was probably futile, as Richard couldn't actually see or hear him.

"Yeah, stop with this taciturn crap!" exclaimed Calvin. "Tell us what's really going on!"

Richard look down and sighed. "Alright," he said. "You do deserve answers."

He sat down; the others did the same.

"Scorpius," he said, "is the name of an extremely dangerous gang operating in Domino City. It has its hands in everything: extortion, weapons technology, public services, corporations...pretty much everything in the city has been touched by them. Their leader, whoever he now is, is the most dangerous man in the city. And now...it seems that they have recruited your friend."

Susie gasped. "You mean Moe's hanging out with a bunch of gangsters?!" she exclaimed.

"I'm afraid so," said Richard somberly.

"Wait a minute," said Calvin suspiciously. "If they're so secretive, how do you know so much about them?"

"Because," said Richard somberly, "years ago they got me like they've now gotten Moe."

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Susie, Calvin, and Hobbes at the same time.

"It began so innocently," said Richard sadly. "I was an introverted kid, with no real friends to speak of. The man who found me told me that if I went with him, I'd have all the friends I'd ever want. And in a way, I did. Even though everyone else was an adult, they acted like I was one of them. I spent five years with them; I so enjoyed having people to be my friends that I forced myself to ignore the terrible things I knew deep down they were doing, that I was helping to bring about."

"So how'd you leave them behind?" asked Calvin.

"I found some other friends," said Richard simply. "They showed me what I was involved in, and they helped pull me out. I got a job at Industrial Illusions that paid well, checked into Duel Estates, and never moved out again. It's been so long that I barely even remembered the route; it doesn't help that the buildings have changed since then."

"So that's why you live in the hotel," said Calvin, pieces clicking into place. "You're scared to live anywhere else."

"The agents of Scorpius would love to get their hands on me," said Richard. "Outside, I'm a sitting duck; but Duel Estates is owned by the Manager, and he calls the police at the first hint that someone might be up to no good. And Scorpius can't risk getting the police involved."

"Sorry to interrupt," said Susie, "but I think our first priority should be getting Moe out of here; did anyone see where he went?"

"Yeah," said Richard. "He went into the trailer, where the leaders are."

"Alright then," said Susie. "Then we're going in after them."

"Susie," cautioned Richard, "this is serious. We need to be smart about this. We should really wait until he gets home tonight before-"

"You mean _if_ he gets home!" exclaimed Susie. "If these guys are as bad as you say, he might not last that long! We need to act as soon as possible!"

"Yes," said Richard patiently, "but there are probably four dozen gangsters between us and the trailer. How are we supposed to get in there?"

Calvin frowned thoughtfully at the clearing. "You know," he remarked, "those clotheslines head right over the trailer. I bet if we climbed up on them, we'd probably be able to slide down!"

"That sounds like a terrible plan that could very easily backfire," said Richard.

"Yeah, that's pretty much how I do things," agreed Calvin.

Richard shrugged. "Sounds like a plan to me," he declared.

"Then what are we waiting for?!" exclaimed Calvin. "Let's do this!"

It took them five minutes to find their way to the top of a building to which one of the clotheslines were attached. Once Calvin had successfully reassured Hobbes about the tensile strength of the rope, the four slid down in quick succession, each landing on the roof of the trailer. By some miracle, none of them were noticed on the way down, and no one apparently thought to check the roof. All four of them quickly lay flat against the surface.

"Now what?" whispered Susie.

Richard gestured over to what appeared to be an air vent in the roof of the trailer. The four crawled over to it and peered through.

Below them, a number of gangsters could be seen seated around a card table. There were five people at the table. The first was a hugely muscular man with several tattoos; he was sharpening his nails on what appeared to be a leg bone made entirely of metal. The second was a purple-haired woman who reminded Calvin vaguely of Bellatrix Lestrange; she wore a shirt with shoulder spikes and skinny jeans, the cuffs of which appeared to have been burned off. The third was a skinny-looking young man, perhaps in his early twenties, with brown hair and a nervous disposition. The fourth was Moe himself, looking between the others with a mixture of awe and worry. Finally, seated on a chair larger and nicer than the others was a tall man; he had a confident air and a cold look in his eyes.

"Listen up," said the tall man, who seemed to be the leader. "We've got some big things to discuss. Today we're starting our new operation. I think it's time we showed Itari Industries who's really in charge of Domino City."

It would have been an exaggeration to say that a collective gasp ran through the trailer; it didn't. But there was definitely a reaction. The muscular man stopped sharpening his nails. The woman raised a bemused eyebrow. Moe scratched his head in puzzlement. The most interesting reaction, however, was from the skinny man with brown hair: for a split second his eyes narrowed, but they quickly widened in fear.

"Are you sure about this, Caesar?" he asked, his voice nervous. "I mean…word on the street is that Itari Industries is controlled by the Trapezium!"

The woman rolled her eyes. "Please don't tell me you actually believe that conspiracy garbage, Christoph."

"No, as a matter of fact, I do not, Umbra," said the one called Christoph. "But at the same time, I think there are too many rumors for us to completely disregard the possibility. Itari is just one business; surely we can afford to let it be! I mean, we control all of its competitors anyway!"

"I don't care about competitors," said Caesar simply. "All I care about is the fact that Itari is the second-richest company in the city, and Scorpius has no stake in it. Well, that's all gonna change: tomorrow, we're gonna break into a warehouse full of Itari Industries products. We steal what we can sell, and burn the rest down. We let Itari know that if they don't want it to happen again, they'd better cough up some of those profits."

"Who's gonna be on the raid?" asked the muscular man; having stopped paying attention to the bone, he looked very much like he wanted something else to target with his aggression.

"Well, you, for one," said Caesar. "We need your very specific skillset to disable the guards. You should also take Pickaxe, the Mask, Firebone, X…oh, and take Moe here with you."

"Me?!" exclaimed Moe in surprise. "Seriously?!"

"You've got spirit, kid," said Caesar. "This is gonna be your first big job: a test to see if you're ready to run with Scorpius. Now in the meantime, go grab us some drinks from the cooler."

"Yes sir!" exclaimed Moe, leaping up with a speed Calvin did not usually associate with him. He quickly turned and sprinted for the door; whether this was because he was eager to follow Caesar's orders or just didn't want to be in the same room as him longer than he had to was anyone's guess.

"Caesar, are you nuts?!" exclaimed the muscular guy. "That kid's a liability! He may be tough on the playground at preschool, but Itari's got one of the best private security forces on Earth! No way that punk's gonna get past them; he'll just get us all caught!"

"Exactly," said Caesar with a smug smile. "That's why we're gonna let him take the blame for failing."

The others looked at him in surprise.

"When the kid inevitably triggers an alarm, the rest of us leave him behind to get caught by the cops," explained Caesar. "He takes the rap for breaking in, and we get off scott-free. Meanwhile, Itari gets a message: we want in, and we're willing to use kids like him to get there. That's the whole point: to send a message, to show them what we're all about."

"And if the kid tells the police?" asked Christoph nervously.

"Who cares if he does?" asked Caesar. "No one ever listens to kids. Even if he leads the cops straight to our location, we've all trained for a raid: we can make this place disappear in a matter of minutes. Then no one will ever believe him. We'll be untouchable, another company will be in our pocket…and then we're one step closer to KaibaCorp and complete domination of the city. And best of all, that annoying brat will be out of our hair for good."

"Do you hear that?" whispered Susie. "They're setting Moe up to take the fall for their next robbery! We need to get him out of here right now!"

And that was about the moment the vent gave way.

Calvin and the others fell through the vent as they all tried to grab each other, hitting the ground with a loud crash. Immediately the gangsters whipped around, some reaching into their pockets to grab weapons. Their anger turned to confusion when they realized that the intruders were, in fact, two kids, a stuffed tiger, and a scrawny man in a waistcoat.

Calvin immediately took charge of the situation. He leapt to his feet and pointed behind the gangsters. "Look, a supermodel!" he exclaimed.

The gangsters made no move to turn around.

Calvin decided to try again. He pointed in the exact same direction. "Look, a hoverboard!"

The result of this was exactly the same: the gangsters did not turn around.

Calvin tried again. He pointed once more. "Look, _the apocalypse_!"

When this continued to not work, Calvin decided to try for something with broader appeal. "Someone got hit in the boing-loings!" He paused. "Hit in the boing-loings," he repeated. "Boing-loings. Boing-loings. Somebody got hit in them."

When the gangsters continued to stare at him, Calvin turned to Susie. "Man, these guys are _good_ ," he remarked.

"Alright," said the leader. "You've got two seconds to tell me what you're doing here before I make what's left of your lives extremely unpleasant."

"What, us?" asked Calvin innocently. "We're…vent inspectors! And honestly, I have to say that yours are in severe need of repair. I'll have to lodge a complaint with the bureau…unless, of course, you were to give us a little incentive not to."

" _Are you seriously trying to get a bribe from the gang leader threatening to kill us?_ " hissed Susie.

"Can't exactly make things any worse," countered Calvin.

The leader locked eyes with each of them in turn. When he got to Richard, he smiled slightly. "So," he said, "the prodigal son returns."

"Hello, Caesar," said Richard, putting no emotion into his voice.

"You know him?" asked Susie.

"Course I do!" said Caesar in a surprisingly jovial tone. "Richard and I were friends way back when! Sadly, we drifted apart over the years. I guess we just took different paths: he ditched us for some new friends, whereas I became leader of this whole scene!"

"Well, congratulations on your promotion!" exclaimed Calvin. "Now then, we don't want to bother you, so we'll just be taking our friend and getting out of your way…"

"I'm afraid not," said Caesar. "After all, you've seen where our base is; you kids I'm not worried about, but with an adult on your side, the police might have to take some real action. Besides, Scorpius has been after Richard here for a while now. You're something of a legend among the crew: the only one who ever walked away from us and lived to tell about it."

"Calvin, do something!" Hobbes hissed.

"I'm thinking!" Calvin hissed back. He looked around the trailer. There was nothing he could reasonably use as a weapon; even if he did, the gangsters had actual guns that were already pointed at them. No, the only hope was to fall back on the show's old standby.

"Tell you what," said Calvin. "How's about a duel? If I can beat you, Moe goes free and you leave all of us alone- including Richard."

Most of the gangsters laughed. Caesar, however, did not; he looked at Calvin with a firmly neutral expression.

"This ain't the playground, kid!" laughed the big guy. "Tell you what: how about instead I just break every bone in your body?"

"That would not be a course of action I would be okay with," said Calvin with a gulp.

"Shut up, Brad," snapped Caesar, turning to look at the muscular guy. Despite the fact that Brad looked to be over a hundred pounds of pure muscle heavier than Caesar, the big guy instantly stiffened and stopped talking.

Caesar turned back to Calvin. "I admit, I am a man known to enjoy the occasional duel," he said. "Provided, of course, that the duel is for the right stakes."

"Such as…?" added Calvin, stunned by the idea that this was working.

"Well, obviously if you win, I'll let your friend Moe go," said Caesar. "If I win…how's about we say that your friend Richard stays with us?"

"No deal," said Calvin and Susie at the same time. They blinked; it was the first time they had agreed on anything.

"Richard is not staying here, no matter what," said Calvin. "That's one of my terms; otherwise…"

"Calvin, it's fine."

Richard placed a hand on Calvin's shoulder. "We agree to the terms," he said.

"But Richard…" protested Susie.

"It's okay," said Richard. "I've been running from these guys for years. Maybe it's time I stopped running. Besides, Calvin, I've seen your potential: I think that you can beat this guy."

"What's going on?"

Everyone turned to look. Moe stood in the doorway, holding the drinks he had been sent to get. He looked in confusion at the gangsters brandishing guns at the intruders and then with alarm at the intruders themselves. "What are _they_ doing here?" he asked.

"We're here to rescue you!" exclaimed Susie. "These guys are setting you up to take the fall for their robbery!"

"Yeah, right!" snapped Moe. "Like I should listen to you! You guys don't care about me; you just don't want me to have fun!"

Caesar ignored Moe. "Very well," he said. "I think these are excellent stakes: you win, Moe walks free and we never bother any of you again; I win, Richard stays here with us. Sound good?"

"Yeah, I guess," said Calvin.

"Oh, one more thing," added Caesar. "If we duel, we're dueling my way. Follow me."

He walked out the door of the trailer, passing by a confused Moe. The others followed him.

"Brad," said Caesar, "go get the equipment."

The muscular one called Brad nodded and walked away.

The rest of the group followed Caesar over to an open area of the clearing. Here, rough lines had been drawn up in the shape of a duel arena. Around them, the other gangsters were looking up in curiosity, apparently realizing a duel was about to be played.

"You really sure you want to go through with this, kid?" asked Caesar.

"Please!" scoffed Calvin. "I'll have you know that I have won every duel I've ever fought!" He tried his best not to let on how few duels that had actually been.

"Very well then," said Caesar. "But I warn you: this duel won't be like any you've played before!"

Brad returned from parts unknown, carrying two heavy steel collars attached to metallic chains; the other ends of the chains were hooked to heavy black boxes. He hooked one around his boss's neck, then fastened the other around the neck of a reluctant Calvin.

"Know how these work, punk?" Caesar asked.

"Let me guess," said Calvin darkly. "These collars are attached to an electric generator. When one of us loses Life Points, the collars deliver a painful electric shock. The more Life Points we lose at once, the bigger the shock."

Caesar looked Calvin up and down. "Precisely," he said. "Now where did a kid like you learn about something like that?"

"Oh, there's a lot of things I know about," said Calvin, managing a mysterious smile despite how butt-puckering terrified he was.

Susie sprinted over to Calvin. "Are you crazy?!" she exclaimed. "This could kill you! How do you even know about this stuff?!"

"Underground dueling from _GX_ ," said Calvin with a weak shrug. "One of the parts of the show I wish hadn't proven so accurate. And besides, I need to go through with this." Susie very much looked like she wanted to protest, but Calvin stopped her. "This is how it's got to be."

"Why?"

The question wasn't from Susie; it was from Moe. "You hate me," he said. "I hit you all the time. Why are you fighting for me?"

"Because," said Calvin, "even though I think you're an utterly unbearable jerk who needs to be taught several lessons…you don't deserve this. No one deserves this. Besides, you've got that family to get home to, and I'm your only chance of ever seeing them again. I may not be a hero, but I can at least do this."

Moe didn't seem quite sure how to respond to that.

"Alright, Caesar!" exclaimed Calvin. "I hope you're ready, because I'm in the mood for a duel!"

Caesar grinned; it was an unsettling sight. "Let's do this!" he exclaimed.

He whipped out a Duel Disk and slid a deck into its slot; the screen began to light up. Calvin pulled out his own Duel Disk and did the same. The projectors flew off the devices and landed on the sides of the arenas, preparing to project the holograms that would form the basis of the duel.

The Life Point screens appeared, showing that they both started with 4000. The two drew their five cards. The stage was set; it was time to begin.

"Now then!" exclaimed Calvin. "I'll go first this time around!" He looked down at his cards. This would be his first time dueling with this new deck he'd gotten from Solomon Muto; he'd have to make it count.

"Alright!" he exclaimed. "I summon Luster Dragon in Attack Mode!"

Calvin slammed the card into his Duel Disk. Immediately the circle of light appeared on the field; out of it rose Calvin's familiar purple jewel-encrusted dragon. The stat screen appeared: **1900 ATK / 1600 DEF / LVL: 4**.

"And then," added Calvin, "I'll place one card face down and end my turn."

"Right then!" said Caesar, a disturbing smile on his face. "It's my draw!" He pulled his card and examined his hand. Apparently he liked what he'd drawn. "Now then, I summon Level Sniper!"

He slammed the card into the Duel Disk. His monster appeared on the field: a man in combat gear holding an oversized sniper rifle. Its stat screen appeared: **1400 ATK / 1200 DEF / LVL: 3**.

"And now, I activate Level Sniper's special ability!" exclaimed Caesar. "Once per turn, by giving up its attack, it can target one monster on your field and deal you damage equal to 100 times its Level! Now then, kid, get ready to find out what _real_ dueling feels like!"

The sniper took aim and fired directly at Calvin. Calvin winced, but blinked when the shot passed right through him. It took him a moment to realize how much of an idiot he was being: obviously the holographic sniper couldn't really hurt him.

What happened next, on the other hand, could and did hurt him.

Instantly electricity surged through the collar. Pain shot through Calvin's body, causing him to cry out. Susie began to run forward, but Calvin held up his hand.

"No!" he exclaimed. "This is between him and me!"

Moe was being very quiet. He looked at Calvin, clearly unsure how to feel about what was going on. He watched as a screen showed Calvin's Life Points drop from 4000 to 3600.

"And now," said Caesar, "I place one card face down and end my turn."

"Alright then!" panted Calvin. "My turn! _Draw_!" He pulled his card from the deck. He grinned. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" he exclaimed. "Now I summon a new monster that's very close to my heart! Come on out, Valiant Tiger!"

He slammed the card into the Duel Disk, and a new monster appeared on the field. It was a tiger, approximately ten feet from its head to the tip of its tail; its coat was an alternating pattern of red and black stripes, unlike the usual orange, and its eyes were focused on Caesar. Its stat screen appeared: **1200 ATK / 900 DEF / LVL: 3**.

"Please," said Caesar. "Why bother bringing out your pet cat when you've got a dragon on the field?"

"Because," exclaimed Calvin, "there's a little something I haven't told you yet: Valiant Tiger happens to be a Tuner Monster! And now I'm going to use him to give my Luster Dragon a tune-up!"

The tiger leapt into the air, transforming into three glowing green rings. The rings surrounded Luster Dragon, which transformed into glowing golden wireframe of itself containing four golden stars, as a burst of light filled the clearing.

"Behold!" exclaimed Calvin. "I Synchro Summon _Tiger Drake_!"

From the blaze of light, a new monster appeared: a sleek dragon with orange-and-black scales. It had a built more like a cat than a lizard; if it hadn't been for the very dragon-y head and tail, it could easily be mistaken for a giant tiger. A white stat screen appeared: **2500 ATK / 2000 DEF / LVL: 7**.

"And now," exclaimed Calvin, "Tiger Drake is gonna send all those Attack Points right at your face! Get ready to feel the sting!"

"Not so fast!" exclaimed Caesar. "I activate a Trap Card: Riddle Wall!"

As the card flipped up, a strange glassy wall appeared in front of the dragon. The dragon paused, apparently confused.

"You see," said Caesar, "by activating this card when a monster I control is attacked or specifically targeted by a damage-dealing effect, I get to ask you a riddle. If you solve it, the damage to me is doubled. Guess wrong, and not only is your attack negated, but you receive damage equal to half your monster's ATK!"

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Susie. "What kind of crazy card is that?!"

"It's the anime rules, remember?" said Hobbes. "They have all kinds of weird cards."

 _A gangster who likes riddles?_ Calvin thought. _What is this, a Batman comic?_ "What's to stop you from cheating and giving me an impossible riddle?" he asked.

"I have to declare my own answer if you guess wrong," said Caesar.

Calvin considered. "Okay, shoot," he said. Then, realizing his poor choice of words, added, "I mean, er, tell me the riddle."

"Here you go," said Caesar. "'What has one foot on each side and a third one in the middle?'"

Calvin blinked; this was immediately not one he knew off the top of his head. "Er…Kuriboh?" he suggested meekly. "Some other card I've never heard of? Barney Stinson?"

"No dice!" exclaimed Caesar. "The answer is a yardstick! And because you guessed wrong, you're taking 1500 points of damage!"

Tiger Drake drew back and breathed a blast of white fire directly at the Riddle Wall. The wall immediately turned as dark and reflective as obsidian; the fire struck it and bounced backwards, flying directly back towards Calvin, momentarily surrounding him before vanishing.

Calvin screamed as the electricity coursed through his body. He fell to his knees, his Life Points dropping to 2100.

"This is bad!" moaned Susie. "Calvin's already lost almost half his life points! I don't know how much more of this I can take!"

"Don't count him out just yet," said Richard, looking at the duel thoughtfully. "Calvin's still got something up his sleeve; I can tell."

Calvin pulled himself to his feet. "You think this is funny?!" he snapped.

Caesar gave a sinister grin. "You know what? I do find it a bit amusing. Seeing a little kid trying to duel with the adults is always an entertaining sight."

"Oh yeah?" challenged Calvin. "Well it's not nearly as funny…as your face will be in a second!"

Caesar blinked. The smile was suddenly gone, Calvin noted.

"Oh yeah, that got your attention," said Calvin. "You see, Tiger Drake has a special ability: when I receive damage from an effect that specifically targets it, it gets to inflict the same amount of damage directly to your Life Points!"

"WHAT?!" screamed Caesar.

The dragon drew back and breathed fire again, this time making sure to aim over the wall. The fire crashed down around Caesar, whose Life Points dropped to 2500. Calvin watched for signs of the electricity…but they didn't come. Caesar's fists tightened and he seemed to quiver slightly, but that was about it. In fact, the gangster actually seemed to smile ever so slightly.

"Oh, and let me guess," Calvin said sarcastically. "Your generator isn't even hooked up."

"Wrong again, kid," said Caesar. "If anything, mine's stronger than yours!"

Calvin blinked. "Then…why didn't you react?" he asked in confusion.

Caesar rolled his eyes. "Look, punk," he said. "This may be your first time dueling like this, but I've been doing it for years- in fact, I was about your age the first time I tried it. This is what life is all about: the thrill of the battle, the rush of adrenaline…I've spent years feeling this burn, and I've learned to love it!"

"Okay," said Susie flatly, " _that_ guy is messed up."

"Fine then," said Calvin. "I place a card face down and end my turn. Now let's see you recover from that!"

"I plan to!" exclaimed Caesar. "It's my draw!"

He pulled his card and examined it. His smile widened further, which Calvin didn't at all like.

"Excellent," he said. "First, I activate the effect of Level Sniper and target your Tiger Drake! Get ready to feel 700 points of damage, kid!"

"Do you really want to do that, though?" challenged Calvin. "Remember, thanks to Tiger Drake's effect, if I take damage from an effect that targets it specifically, you take damage too! Is the pain really worth a measly seven hundred points?"

"Let me think," said Caesar, pretending to mull it over for a few moments. " _Hell yeah it is!_ Level Sniper, take aim at Tiger Drake and fire at will!"

The sniper obediently focused his rifle at Tiger Drake and fired. Calvin flinched but managed to resist screaming this time as the electricity coursed through him and his Life Points dropped to 1400. Looking over, he saw that Caesar's Life Points were taking the hit too, dropping to 1800. This time, the gangster threw back his head and laughed even as the collar actually glowed with electricity.

"That's what I'm talking about!" he exclaimed. "This is what it means to really feel alive!"

"You are one twisted guy," remarked Calvin, allowing his muscles to unclench after the shock.

Caesar seemed to recover, then slammed another card into his deck. "Now," he exclaimed, "I summon Amateur Agent in Attack Position!"

A new monster appeared on Caesar's field: a kid in a baseball cap carrying a piece of metal pipe. He gave Calvin a sinister grin and slapped the pipe into his hand. Its stat screen appeared: **600 ATK / 400 DEF / LVL: 2**.

"And now I activate its special ability!" exclaimed Caesar. "By sending Amateur Agent to the Graveyard at the end of the Battle Phase, I can make it attack you directly!"

The kid ran forward and smacked Calvin with the piece of metal. Calvin cried out as the electricity arced up the metal, shocking him once again; his Life Points fell to 700.

"Stupid jerk!" shouted Susie. "Even when you duel, you have to send innocent kids to do your dirty work!"

"I'm not innocent."

Susie turned. Moe was standing beside her; he'd been so uncharacteristically quiet that Susie had almost forgotten he was there.

"Calvin has every right to hate me," said Moe. "So why is he doing this? I just don't understand…"

"It's not because of what you've done," said Susie. "It's because of who you are. He sees that there's good in you, and that that good is worth saving."

Moe looked back at Calvin…and for the first time in a long time, he smiled.

"So," challenged Caesar, "do you give up now?"

"Never!" exclaimed Calvin. "I'm never gonna give in to you! And do you know why? Because all this pain, all the monsters you keep throwing my way…all that does…" He looked Caesar straight in the eyes. "…is fill me with DETERMINATION!"

 **A/N: And cross that reference off the list**.

"Fine then," said Caesar. "Now I activate the Spell Card Decoy Attack! By banishing one monster from my Graveyard, I can destroy a face-down card on your field! So by banishing Amateur Agent from my graveyard, I'll destroy one of your Trap Cards!"

A bolt of yellow light flashed from the image of the card and struck one of Calvin's Trap Cards. The card shattered into pieces, revealing it to have been Negate Attack, which could have stopped an attack on one of Calvin's monsters.

Calvin winced, but it wasn't a total loss. The other trap was the one he was _really_ counting on in an emergency. _My backup plan is still safe_ , he thought. _Let's just hope I don't need a backup plan_ for _the backup plan_.

"And now," said Caesar, "I'll place two cards face-down and end my turn."

"Alright," said Calvin. "My draw!" He pulled the card from his deck. He smiled triumphantly. I activate the Spell Card _Nine Lives_! Thanks to this, I can Special Summon Valiant Tiger back to my field!"

A purple circle filled with smoke appeared on the field; out of it rose Valiant Tiger, who leapt forward and growled at the gangster.

"And now," exclaimed Calvin, "I release both Valiant Tiger and Tiger Drake to bring out my old standby! Ladies, gentlemen, and Caesar, please give a warm Domino City welcome to… _Red-Eyes Black Dragon_!"

The two monsters transformed into balls of rainbow light, which flew upwards into a glowing golden circle. Out of the circle descended the familiar black dragon, who let out a bellowing roar. Its stat screen appeared: **2400 ATK / 2000 DEF / LVL: 7**.

"Is this a joke?!" exclaimed Caesar. "Why would you summon a monster with LESS Attack Points than the one you sacrificed?"

"Oh, Red-Eyes here isn't gonna be sticking around," said Calvin. "Because I'm sacrificing him to bring in my trump card: Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon!"

"I don't think so!" exclaimed Caesar. "I reveal my Trap: Unlawful Seizure! Thanks to this card, when you summon a monster that's Level 7 or higher, by returning a monster to my deck and discarding a Trap Card from my hand, any monsters in your hand with a higher level than your summoned monster get sent straight to the Graveyard! So I'll give up my Level Sniper and another Riddle Wall to destroy all Level 8 or higher monsters in your hand! And you know what that means: bye-bye, Darkness Dragon!"

"NO!" cried Calvin in horror.

Level Sniper disappeared in a flash of red. Arrows of light arced out of Caesar's trap card, spearing Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon's card. Calvin winced, half-expecting the collar to shock him again, but nothing happened. He slipped the card into his Graveyard slot, grumbling to himself.

"Oh, but that's not the best part!" exclaimed Caesar. "Thanks to this Trap's other effect, I'm now allowed to Special Summon a monster from my hand that's one level stronger than yours!"

Calvin gulped. "That's…that's a not good," he said weakly.

"Behold!" exclaimed Caesar. "My ultimate monster: NIGHTMARE DREADNAUGHT!"

A massive monster materialized on the field. It appeared to be a massive purple knight, fully thirty feet tall, holding a pair of immense lances and wearing a helmet in the shape of a monstrous skull. A stat screen appeared: **2600 ATK / 3000 DEF / LVL: 8**.

Calvin blinked. "Erm…" he said, "well then, with that I end my turn."

"About time!" exclaimed Caesar. "Nightmare Dreadnaught, OBLITERATE HIS DRAGON!"

Calvin considered using his backup plan. It might be able to stop this attack, but at the same time he knew it was risky. If he wasn't clever enough, it would blow up in his face and just make everything worse. No, it was better to just take the hit and wait it out for either a more definitive or more desperate opportunity.

The knight's lance penetrated the dragon, who cried out in pain. These cries mixed with those of Calvin himself, who had been electrocuted once again. His Life Points fell to 1200.

"And you know what?" asked Caesar. "I think that'll be it for now."

"This is really, _really_ bad!" moaned Susie. "We need to do something!"

Richard smiled. "Yes, it is," he said. "In fact, I don't think Caesar stands a chance."

"Okay then!" exclaimed Calvin. "It's my turn!" He pulled the card from his deck and smiled. "Boy, am I glad to see _this_ card!" he exclaimed.

He held the card over his head. "I activate the Spell Card Draconic Harmony!" he exclaimed. "Thanks to this, I'm allowed to change the level of one Dragon-Type monster on my field or in my graveyard to match the level of another Dragon in the same place! So now I'm going to make my Luster Dragon a Level 7 monster, just like my Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"

"So what?" scoffed Caesar. "What does changing the level of destroyed monsters do to me?"

"Plenty!" exclaimed Calvin. "Because now I'm banishing the both of them from my Graveyard to summon an even more powerful monster!"

"But you have no monsters in your hand!" protested Caesar. "Or at least none strong enough to take on mine!"

"Doesn't matter," countered Calvin. "Because by banishing two Level 7 or higher monsters with the same Level from my Graveyard, I can Special Summon this creature _straight from my deck_!"

A vast triangle of emerald light appeared on the ground before Calvin. Calvin figured it was time to try out a summoning chant, seeing as he was bringing out his most powerful monster. He held his hand up dramatically.

"Ancient force of creation and destruction," he shouted, "come forth and change the destiny of this duel! ARISE, **DELTA DRAGON**!"

A vast reptilian creature burst from the green triangle. It was a long serpent-like dragon with eyes that seemed to shine silver and glowing white lines covering its body. It stretched up to its full height, well over fifty feet, then leaned down to roar at Caesar. Its stat screen appeared: **3600 ATK / 0 DEF / LVL: 10**.

"And now," exclaimed Calvin, "Delta Dragon will commence with the process of _utterly wrecking you!_ Destroy his Nightmare Dreadnaught with _Winds of Change_!"

The dragon drew back for its attack. Everyone expected it to breathe fire, but what it did was even more awesome. Delta Dragon fired an immense beam of green light out of its mouth, striking the Nightmare Dreadnaught directly in the chest. The immense knight staggered, fell back, and ultimately disintegrated. Caesar actually cringed this time as his Life Points fell to just 800.

"And now for Delta Dragon's special ability!" exclaimed Calvin. "When it successfully destroys a monster with more than 2500 Attack Points, it gets to deal you an additional 1000 points of damage! Say goodbye to your Life Points!"

"Oh no you don't!" exclaimed Caesar. "I activate the _Abandon Ship!_ Trap Card! Thanks to this, by paying 500 Life Points, I get to negate your monster's effect! I'll still take a hit, but it'll be one I can walk away from…unlike what I'll be doing to you next turn!"

Caesar gritted his teeth as the collar shocked him again, his Life Points falling to 300. He shook his head and grinned. "You done?"

"Yeah, why not?" said Calvin. "It's not like I have much choice in the matter."

"That's right, you don't!" exclaimed Caesar. "And thanks to this, you're never going to get another turn!"

"You don't know how right you are," chuckled Calvin.

"Now then," exclaimed Caesar, "I draw!"

He drew his card and smiled. "Now that's what _I'm_ talking about," he said. "First, I play the Spell Card _Pot of Greed_!"

"Hey, no fair!" shouted Calvin. "That card was banned years ago!"

"Kid," sighed Caesar, "do you _really_ expect me to care?"

"No," grumbled Calvin.

Caesar reached into his deck and drew two cards, as permitted by Pot of Greed. He grinned. "Now," he exclaimed, "I summon another Amateur Agent!"

The little kid appeared on the field. He pounded the bat into his hand as menacingly as he could manage. Moe flinched at the sight of it.

"And," added Caesar, "I'll equip him with the Spell Card Adamantium Bat! Thanks to this, his attack power increases by 1000 points!"

The bat in the kid's hands turned brilliant silver; the kid staggered under the new weight, but managed to maintain his balance.

"And now," exclaimed Caesar, "I use Amateur Agent's special ability to make him attack you directly! And with 1600 ATK coming at you, you're going down and not getting back up!"

"Yeah, right!" exclaimed Calvin. "I reveal a Trap of my own: Card Design 101! Thanks to this card, I can activate the effect of one Spell or Trap that has multiple copies in either of our graveyards! And I pick…Riddle Wall!"

The familiar wall materialized in front of Amateur Agent. It was the only thing standing in-between him and Calvin's last few Life Points.

Caesar chuckled. "You're really going to bet this whole game on me losing on a Riddle Wall challenge? Go right ahead, kid; try your best!"

Calvin desperately tried to think of a riddle that would stump the gangster. With so much on the line, it was hard to think.

"You can do it, Calvin!" called Susie.

"Yeah!" shouted Moe. "Make that jerk feel stupid!"

It was Moe's comment that did it. Calvin found himself thinking back to a web series he had watched years ago. It had featured a riddle that had completely stumped him. It was a long shot, but he had to take the chance.

"Okay then!" exclaimed Calvin. "Try this: 'When brightest, it's darkest; when darkest, it's gone. When it's gone forever, so are you. What is it?'" He looked up. "Figure _that_ one out!"

Caesar thought about it for a moment. Then he laughed. "It's obvious, isn't it?" he exclaimed. "It's the mind! The cleverest mind is the one that figures out that embracing your dark side is the only way to succeed! I joined Scorpius as a kid, and now I practically run this town! And with you out of the way, there will be no one around to…"

He stopped. Calvin was smirking.

"Sorry," said Calvin, "but the real answer is 'your shadow'! When you're in a bright place, you have a dark shadow; in a dark place, you don't cast a shadow; and when your shadow is gone forever, it's because you're dead! And seeing as you got it wrong, you've got 800 points of direct damage headed straight for you!"

"What?!" exclaimed Caesar, his eyes widening in equal parts confusion and anger. On the field, Amateur Agent turned on him, a vengeful look in his eyes.

"Yeah, that's right, kid!" exclaimed Calvin. "Go right ahead: _hit him with your best shot_!"

The monster obediently charged towards Caesar. He raised his metal bar and swung it downards, striking Caesar directly in the head. He cried out as the collar shocked him one more time, his Life Points falling to 0.

Susie jumped up and down with excitement. "Calvin won!" she exclaimed. "He really won!"

"Gee, thanks for the confidence," remarked Calvin. As he spoke, he felt the collar automatically detach from his neck, falling to the ground. "Alright then," he said, turning to Caesar. "A deal's a deal; we all walk out of here, and you never bother Richard here again."

"Not likely," hissed Caesar, yanking his own collar off his neck. "You may have beaten me, but I guarantee none of you will live to tell about it!" He began to advance towards Calvin.

Calvin immediately began advancing in the opposite direction. "Uh, hey now," he interjected. "This wasn't part of the deal!"

"You weren't supposed to win," Caesar snapped. "You weren't even supposed to last past the first couple turns! But you just wouldn't quit. And for that, you're gonna pay!"

"Actually, no he's not," said a voice.

Everyone turned in confusion. Christoph, the skinny nervous guy who'd been in the trailer earlier and who had disappeared. He smirked and held up his cell phone.

"You see," he said, "I've secretly been working with the police since I joined the gang six months ago. As soon as the duel started, I called them to let them know where you'd be. They should be here right…about…now."

At that exact moment, police officers burst onto the scene from every direction. The officers immediately began to tackle members of the gang, who were scattering in all directions; three members specifically targeted Caesar, pinning him to the ground.

"You little rat!" roared Caesar. "I'm going to…"

"Careful," said Christoph with a smile. "Anything you say can and will be held against you."

He turned to Calvin. "I'm so sorry I didn't help you before," he said. "I couldn't risk blowing my cover while he still had time to get away."

"That's fine," said Calvin with a grin. "My whole body's gonna hate me in the morning, but this was a pretty fun duel."

Christoph grinned back. "I've got to go now," he said. "The agency probably wants me to go through a full debriefing, and I've got a lot of information to deliver. See you round sometime; and until we meet again, may destiny's will be swift and just!"

And with that, Christoph jogged off into the crowd of police officers.

"Well," said Susie, "I guess everything turned out alright in the end after all."

"Not quite everything," said Richard. "Calvin, I believe you owe someone an apology."

"Yeah, I probably do," Calvin grumbled.

He turned to Moe. "Look," he said. "I know we don't get along; we never have, and maybe we never will. But we're all we've got in this universe, and we'll never make it home if we're at each other's throats all the time. So as long as you promise to not physically assault me whenever you're bored, I in turn promise to be more...respectful."

Moe seemed to think long and hard, trying to find the right words for what he wanted to say. Finally, he decided to just say it. "Calvin," he said, "do you think…you could teach me to duel? I mean, you're teaching Susie."

Calvin blinked. "I didn't know you wanted to learn," he said.

"You didn't ask," said Moe simply.

Calvin considered this. "Well," he said, "Hobbes would probably be a better teacher than me; he's the one doing most of the teaching for Susie. And I can't guarantee miracles. But…I at least promise to try."

"Thank you," said Moe sincerely. It was the first kind thing he had ever said to Calvin.

"Oh, how touching," sneered Caesar, currently being wrestled to his feet by two of the three policemen.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot you were here," said Calvin, turning to the gangster with a big grin. "Tell you what: you like riddles? Here's one so simple a child could come up with it: what's the difference between a maze and a labyrinth?"

Caesar struggled, whether to figure out the riddle or against the policeman's grip Calvin wasn't sure. After a good twenty seconds he looked up at Calvin, murder in his eyes.

"I don't know," he spat, sounding like the words physically hurt him. "What is the difference?"

Calvin smiled and turned towards the others. "Come on, guys, let's go," he said.

The five turned and walked away. The last thing they heard was Caesar screaming in rage.

Christoph watched them go from the shadows of the alley. He quickly reached into his coat and pulled out a futuristic-looking communicator that looked rather like a miniature Duel Disk. He pressed a button and held the device to his ear, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for a response. "Come on, come on..." he muttered.

Finally there was a click. "Yes, who is this?" asked a voice from the other end.

"This is Christoph," he said. "I was told to report in if I noticed anything that might be significant. Well, I just found something that's about as significant as it gets. I need to be put through to the highest authority involved in the operation."

"You know that's going to be difficult," said the voice. "What exactly do you have to report?"

For a moment Christoph watched the receding figures, now no more than rapidly fading silhouettes in the rain. He quickly turned 360 degrees around himself to make sure no one was listening. All the police officers and gangsters were occupied, so he turned back towards the building.

"I found him," he said quietly into the communicator. "I found Calvin."

That night, the group once again sat in Room 631 of Duel Estates. _Enchantment Girl_ was once again playing on the TV. However, the situation was now different, and not just because Richard had by now gone home. There was a new player in the drama: Moe sat at the table, listening as Calvin carefully showed him how to play Duel Monsters. Moe did his best to listen, occasionally interrupting to ask a question or request clarification. Calvin did his best to be patient with Moe, stopping to explain whenever Moe had difficulty- which wasn't as often as he'd thought.

"Wow," remarked Susie, sitting on the couch with Hobbes; she was eating from a bowl of microwave popcorn, which Richard had provided the group with in celebration of Calvin's victory. "Calvin teaching Moe how to play card games. A week ago, I would have said that was impossible."

"Need I remind you that you're explaining all this to a talking tiger?" asked Hobbes with a smile.

"Yeah," agreed Susie, smiling back. "I guess a lot of impossible things have been happening recently. Oh, by the way, there's something I was wondering."

"What's that?" asked Hobbes.

"Calvin's riddle," said Susie. "I've been thinking about it, but I can't quite figure it out. Is there an answer, or did Calvin just come up with it to mess with Caesar?"

"I honestly have no idea," chuckled Hobbes. "The riddle is a quote from one of Calvin's favorite games, _The Room 3_. It's a mobile puzzle game; you should check it out some time. Anyway, the game never gives an answer, so who knows?"

Susie considered this. "A riddle with no answer given," she said. "Very Lewis Carroll; I approve. Still, do you have any theories?"

"When Calvin beat the game, we each came up with guesses," said Hobbes. "My guess was 'A maze has dead ends, while a labyrinth leads to an inevitable destination.'"

"Sounds reasonable," said Susie. "What was Calvin's guess?"

"'A labyrinth is bigger.'"

"Yeah, that sounds like Calvin, alright."

And so life went on for Calvin and his friends…

 **A/N: Holy CRAP this one was a doozy.**

 **Yeah, this was one of the hardest chapters to write so far, mainly because I really had no idea what I was doing for much of it. Most of the time I have some ideas about what a character's deck is going to be before they actually duel; sometimes I know what their deck will be chapters in advance. (I've already got a complex LIST of the cards that the villain of the Season 2 finale will have.) But in this chapter, I was essentially dueling by the seat of my pants, at least in regards to Caesar. That isn't an ideal way to write, at least not for me. I also wrote it piecewise, jumping between different parts of the chapter and writing them in whatever order I felt like. "Brad returned from parts unknown" was the first part of the chapter I wrote, while, "…and not getting back up!" was the last. Again, not a great system.**

 **Incidentally, there are at least two pieces of foreshadowing in this chapter. One obvious, one less so. Whoever finds both of them first gets a virtual cookie, which is worth nothing but which sounds good to get.**

 **I also have some news about the Omniverse Event as a whole. First, I'd like to say that Chapter 5 of** _ **It Takes One to Divine One**_ **is already well under way, and should be out within a couple weeks. Second, I'm currently working on the grand premier of** _ **Duelist Foundation**_ **, which at this point probably qualifies for vaporware status with how much I've teased it without actually releasing anything concrete. I've already missed one planned release date, to which I can only say…oops? Let's make it official and say 4/13 for the grand premier. By then I should have at LEAST two chapters, probably three, and maybe even four or five. Plus, it's a day we can all be excited about.**

 **As for other stories, two of the other ones announced are officially waiting on other factors:** _ **Calvin and Hobbes: Voidtrapped**_ **premiers on the date of the Steam Summer Sale, which I don't know; and** _ **Artemis Fowl: The Homeworld Directive**_ **won't be published until after the Season 2 finale of** _ **Steven Universe**_ **, which...dammit Cartoon Network, just air more episodes of that show!** _ **The Angels of Misthaven**_ **has also been put on hold, since** _ **Once Upon A Time**_ **is currently airing a new season. In fact, given the continuity snarl that show is trapped in, I might end up putting it on the back burner until whenever it finishes. I also have to reread the first three** _ **Maximum Ride**_ **books to remember what the hell happens in them, so we're looking at summer at the very earliest.**

 **However- and I'm being kind of tentative about saying anything right now, since I can't confirm or deny anything yet- I have recently been working on a** _ **brand new**_ **story for the Omniverse Event! At this point I'm keeping it under tight wraps, as it's entirely possible it will never see the light of day, but I'll just tell you this: one of the universes is a popular cartoon from the 2000s that I've never referenced before but is right up my alley; the other is for a franchise I've written for on this account before, except not this aspect of it.**

 **Alright, well I've got more homework to do, so I'd better wrap this up. Now that I'm in college, I'm finally at the point where homework has overtaken outright laziness as the main reason I don't update much. Hopefully the next chapter will be easier, since I have reference material for the decks involved (at least one of them) and it's a concept I've wanted to do for much longer than this. See you guys then!**

Next Episode: "In His Blue Eyes" – Calvin finds himself going up against legendary duelist Seto Kaiba in the hopes of getting access to his company's technology.


	9. Episode 08

Episode 08: In His Blue Eyes Part 1

 **A/N: Well, I'm back. Sorry about the delay; a thing came up and I had to fight some demons. Then the agency started whining that I fought them the wrong way, and then I had to sit through an ethics committee audit, and long story short it was a rough few weeks.**

 **In other news, I've decided that the soundtrack thing is coming back…sort of. Rather than try to attach different songs to different scenes, I'm going to just sort of assign a single song to be a specific characters's theme. The theme would essentially be their signature background music while dueling, and would usually play over a last-second victory. I've also attached an "alternate title" i.e. what the songs would be called if they had originally been composed for an anime version of this story. The songs I have so far are:**

 **Calvin: "Dragon Ball Z Budokai – Challengers | Epic Rock Cover" by** **Friedrich Habetler Music** **[New title: "Dragonbreath"]**

 **Susie: "Sburban Jungle" from** ** _Homestuck_** **[New title: "Enchanted Duel"]**

 **Moe: "Spear of Justice" from** ** _Undertale_** **[New title: "Clockwork Blade"]**

 **Richard: Spoilers, sweetie**

 **With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy the new chapter! I think this is where I really start to hit my stride, and I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Duel Estates, 10:08 A.M.**

 **Two weeks after arrival**

The morning began just like any other from the last couple weeks. Susie and Hobbes were eating breakfast while _Enchantment Girl_ on the TV. They'd finally finished the original series and had moved onto the first sequel, _Enchantment Girl Academy_. Susie had been warned it was a lot goofier than the original series, but considering the relentlessly dark fourth and fifth seasons of the original, Susie for one felt that was a good thing. Moe, meanwhile, was practicing the techniques Calvin had taught him the night before; he'd finally gotten a good enough grasp on basic monsters, spells, and traps that Calvin had decided to move him on to Extra Deck monsters. Calvin had not yet emerged from his bedroom.

"This is so cool!" exclaimed Susie. "This whole season has totally inverted the imagery of light and shadow that previous seasons were so reliant on!"

"Yeah," added Hobbes, "and not to mention the villain is actually competent with how he's going about his plan. It's so rare to see that in shows like this."

Moe looked up from the handbook on Fusion Monsters he'd been working his way through. "I just like the battle scenes," he remarked.

"Oh yeah, those are cool too," agreed Hobbes. "The whole fusion thing is overdone, but I like how they sort of integrated it into the plot this season. I hear Season 3 goes all the way with that."

Suddenly, the door to the bedroom banged open and Calvin burst into the main room. "Good news, everyone!" he exclaimed.

"What is it, Professor Farnsworth?" asked Hobbes with mock excitement.

Calvin glared at Hobbes for a moment, then turned back to the rest of the groups. "The good news," he said, "is that I've finally put the finishing touches on my new invention! BEHOLD!"

He whipped his arm around to reveal…his Duel Disk.

"Uh," pointed out Susie, "I'm pretty sure you didn't invent that. We got it at the card shop. For free."

"Ah," added Calvin, "but this isn't just any Duel Disk! I've added some special modifications." He cleared his throat. "ADAMWEST, on!"

With a humming noise, the Duel Disk began to flash with lights. Several holographic screens appeared in mid-air around it, displaying all kinds of information. Susie could tell that one seemed to be a temperature and weather reading, another appeared to have a list of phone numbers, and another displayed what looked like a web browser. The whole thing was slowly rotating.

Calvin proudly reached out with one hand and, making a stretching motion with his thumb and pointer finger, enlarged one of the windows. "Nice, huh?" he asked. "I call it the Duel Disk Plus! It can do phone calls, texting, check the weather, surf the web, take photos, play music, and even check your stocks, all while you duel!"

"And you built this in two weeks?" exclaimed Susie, genuinely impressed. She had heard all about Calvin being a great inventor, but somehow that had never clicked with her image of the kid who had once confidently declared that 11 plus 9 equaled the Battle of Lexington, which he'd further insisted had been fought between Nazi Germany and something he called the Antarctic Legion.

"Well," said Calvin, doing his best not to sound _too_ proud of himself, "I admit it wasn't completely from scratch. The Duel Disk is pretty powerful already in terms of processing, and a lot of the software I reverse-engineered from my iPad. Except instead of Siri, I created my own AI assistant with a much more interesting personality." He tapped a screen with a microphone option. "Say hello to everyone, ADAMWEST."

"Hey guys," said a robotic voice that was quite obviously Calvin's voice made deeper to sound vaguely like Batman.

"Seriously?" asked Susie. "Why Adam West? Why not Chris Pratt or something? Heck, why not Tara Strong? I'd have been willing to do voice recordings for Tara Strong impressions!"

"It's one of the few voices I can actually do," explained Calvin. "Besides, obviously it's not JUST a Batman reference; ADAMWEST is an acronym."

"For what?" asked Susie.

"I have absolutely no idea," admitted Calvin.

Susie was about to ask the obvious question, but Hobbes interrupted with another. "Wait a minute," he said. "I thought we determined this universe doesn't _have_ the Internet, or at least nothing nearly advanced as ours; it's like they developed Duel Disks instead. What Internet does this thing access?"

"That's the thing!" exclaimed Calvin. "This thing is accessing OUR Internet! Apparently when we went through the rift, some weird quantum entanglement stuff happened with my iPad that meant I still get a constant Wi-Fi signal from our universe! Though I think it might be kind of unstable; sometimes I randomly see videos or news articles from time periods later than ours. Oh, by the way," he added to Hobbes, "at your insistence I downloaded the whole of _My Little Pony_ Season 6 onto this thing."

"Ooh, sweet!" exclaimed Hobbes. "I'm excited to see how they handle Starlight's redemption arc! I'll have to check that out, after this episode."

"Yeah, well, animation both western and Japanese will have to wait," said Calvin. "We've got somewhere to be! Come on, let's go!"

The others looked at each other in confusion. Susie looked to Hobbes, who gave a helpless shrug. Moe looked to Susie, who gave a look of general confusion. Hobbes looked to Moe, who of course had no reaction. After a moment of hesitation, they all stood up and went to grab stuff for what they had a feeling would be a long day.

The four first headed down to Richard's apartment. At first Susie thought that Richard would be going with them wherever they were going, but he explained that he had some important work to do (something about going over photos from a new archaeological site) and wouldn't be going with them.

"But," he added to Calvin, "I did manage to get what you asked me for."

He rummaged in his pocket for a moment and drew out several cards; all were face-down, so Susie couldn't tell what they were (though she doubted they would've been too familiar to her anyway). Richard handed them to Calvin. "Some of these were pretty rare," he said. "I hope you know what you're doing with this."

"Doing with what?" asked Susie. "What's going on here?"

Neither Calvin nor Richard answered. Calvin took the cards, handling them gently as if they were a slightly radioactive treasure, and slipped them into his own deck.

"Alright then!" he said. "See you later today!"

"Best of luck to you!" exclaimed Richard, who then promptly closed the door.

"Well, that was a bit rude," remarked Susie.

"I don't think it was meant to be," said Hobbes. "He reminds me a bit of Calvin: he doesn't get a lot of human interaction, so he legitimately doesn't know when he's being rude."

With the apparent contraband in their possession, Calvin and the others headed down to the lobby, earning a suspicious look from the Manager as they went. They headed out of the building and onto the crowded city street; Calvin immediately set off towards the city center, seeming to have a very clear idea of where they were going.

"Okay, what is going on here?!" exclaimed Susie.

"I admit, I'm not sure," said Hobbes. "I've been a bit worried about Calvin lately; apparently he keeps having this recurring nightmare."

"Really?" asked Susie in surprise. "What kind of nightmare?"

"He won't say," said Hobbes. "From what I've heard him say in his sleep, it involves darkness and some kind of mirror. It's woken him up on more than one occasion. Though I can't say I blame him; he's been under a lot of stress drawing up the blueprints for the new time machine. I mean, he did get a lot of help from the Imagination Pillar last time."

"I've been meaning to ask about that," remarked Susie. "What _is_ this Imagination Pillar I keep hearing about? Is it that thing that appeared in my room that one time that you two took?"

"No, that was the Tin Pillar," said Hobbes. "But that was about the same time as we found the other Pillars, except as it turns out the Imagination Pillar had been with us for a lot longer, and we just never knew because it was disguised as a marker so as to…" He sighed. "It's a long story," he added simply.

Susie shrugged. "It looks like we've got a long walk," she countered.

"Okay then," said Hobbes. "I guess it started on a pretty normal day. And by normal, I mean he and I were going at it in one of our typical arguments. See, we had this disagreement about starships…"

Over the next half hour of the walk, Hobbes presented an abridged version of the story of the Quest: how he and Calvin had traveled to the future to see some starships, how they'd found the first Pillar in low orbit over Earth, how the time machine had gotten damaged by another Pillar on the way back home and crashed in ancient Egypt, how Calvin had started tracking down a bunch of other Pillars across time and space (Susie interjecting at the part she had been there for), how the whole thing had turned out to be a trap by Calvin's evil duplicate Nivlac, and how they had ultimately stranded him in the Paradox Dimension and used the Pillar Mechanism to escape through the Big Bang back to Calvin's room.

Yeah, when you say it like that, it sounds a bit mad, doesn't it?

"Wow," remarked Susie, once Hobbes was finished. "And here I thought that class reports were an adventure!"

"Believe me, with Calvin they are," said Hobbes. "Remind me to tell you about what happened when Calvin tried to use time travel to avoid doing a creative writing project."

"We're here!" exclaimed Calvin.

Susie looked up in surprise. "Why are we at the KaibaCorp building?" she asked.

Sure enough, they were standing out in front of the large irregular building. Calvin was grinning, apparently looking forward to something.

"You see," said Calvin, "I've been drawing up plans for the time machine, and I've hit a snag. As I mentioned, I never built one without the Imagination Pillar…"

"Hey, I actually know what that is now!" exclaimed Susie.

"…which means I have to make all the technology by hand," continued Calvin. "Don't get me wrong, the logic of time-space should operate just fine in this reality. With the right components, building a new time machine should be no problem. The issue is the components themselves: that's going to take some seriously advanced tech, and stuff like that isn't just available on the open market. Which is where KaibaCorp comes in: Richard found out from a source inside the company that Kaiba's new space program is developing a brand new kind of rocket engine that uses _exactly_ the technology that I need!"

"Yeah," pointed out Susie, "but how are you going to get it? I don't remember the show too well, but somehow I don't think someone who's as big of a jerk as I remember Kaiba being is going to hand over that technology to a couple of kids who say they're gonna build a time machine with it."

"Exactly," said Calvin. "Which is why we're going to have to get creative with our plans. If I want that tech, I'm gonna have to go after it in the only way Kaiba respects."

Susie's jaw dropped. "No!" she exclaimed. "You can't POSSIBLY be planning to…"

"Yep!" said Calvin with a grin. "I'm gonna challenge him to a duel!"

Susie forced herself to calm down. She found that tranquility was the best way of dealing with Calvin's insane schemes; getting angry would just make him more stubbornly insistent on the course. "Calvin," she said, "I know you have faith in your abilities, but this isn't some random hotel manager or mob boss we're talking about. This is _Kaiba_! The second-best duelist in the entire world!"

"I'm with her," remarked Moe. "If this guy's head of some big fancy company, he's probably a pretty good duelist."

"I know," said Calvin, "but I've got some advantages over him. First, Kaiba is a fantastic duelist _in the anime_ , which as I've mentioned before doesn't use the metagame tactics, so I've got an advantage in strategy. Second, with a bit of luck he still uses his deck from the original series, which had no Synchros, Xyz, or Pendulums; I have all three in my deck, which means I have a card advantage over him. And third, I've watched the anime; I already know all of Kaiba's strategies! Whatever he tries, I'll be ready for!"

"Sure," said Susie, "but doesn't he have _three_ Blue-Eyes White Dragons? And aren't those things, like, super powerful?"

"Yeah," said Calvin with a grin, "but I've got some dragons of my own, _including_ another Blue-Eyes. If nothing else, _that_ should put Kaiba off-balance. Besides, Richard and I planned this in advance; on the way here, he gave me some anti-Kaiba cards we picked out a few days ago."

"How are we even going to convince him to duel you?" Susie protested. "He's the CEO of the largest company in the world!"

"Already taken care of," said Calvin with a wink. "I happen to have something he'd be _quite_ interested in."

Before Susie could ask what he was talking about, Calvin strode through the sliding front doors.

"You're his best friend," said Susie, turning back to Hobbes. "Can we stop him?"

Hobbes shook his head. "Once he's gotten an idea into his head, he'll keep working at it until he achieves his goal or encounters something that blows up in his face. Hopefully not literally, but…yeah, actually a few times it's been literal."

Susie sighed. "Well then, let's see how this goes."

And with that, she, Hobbes, and Moe followed him through the door.

* * *

The KaibaCorp lobby was more or less exactly what they had expected: modern, minimalist, and relentlessly clean. Several doors led off to the side, apparently to office areas or conference rooms. On the far side of the lobby, a single bored-looking receptionist sat beside a desk.

The group walked up to the woman, led by an excited Calvin. She was a middle-aged woman with half-moon glasses wearing a floral-print dress. As Calvin approached, she lowered what appeared to be a holographic newspaper and looked at them pointedly. "Yes, what can I help you with?" she asked.

"I'm Mr. Kaiba's 10:00 appointment," said Calvin. "I believe we met a few days ago."

"Let me see," said the receptionist, checking his schedule. "Ah, I see; you must be Calvin…Ancletobbes?"

"Actually, it's just Calvin," said Calvin. "I signed the paper 'Calvin and Hobbes' when I made the appointment."

"What _is_ your last name?" wondered Susie.

"You're never gonna find out," said Calvin. "Anyway, is Kaiba ready?"

The receptionist checked her watch. "Based on Mr. Kaiba's schedule," she said, "he should be here in about… six seconds."

"How can you know that so precisely?" wondered Susie.

"Trust me," said the receptionist, "you learn fast."

At that moment one of the elevators off to the side let out a small _ding_. The doors opened, and out stepped the man himself. He wore his familiar silver trenchcoat, complete with shoulder spikes and a cape fluttering in a breeze that, weirdly enough, no one else could feel. His scowl was, if anything, more pronounced than in the anime.

"Alright, I don't have much time," he said. "Where is my next appointment? I was told I would be meeting to discuss a possible new product."

"Right here, Kaiba!" exclaimed Calvin; Susie winced at how informal that must have sounded. "I'm your 10:00 appointment!"

Kaiba looked at him. For a moment, even he seemed at a loss for words. Then he threw back his head and laughed. There was absolutely no humor in it.

"Is this a joke?!" he exclaimed. "What's a pathetic runt like you doing in my lobby? Did you get lost on your way to kindergarten?"

"Yep," muttered Susie quietly. "That's about the Kaiba I remember from the show: all the tact of a grizzly bear."

"Laugh while you can, Kaiba," said Calvin. "But once I show you my invention, you're going to be more than willing to hear my terms."

"Listen, brat," said Kaiba, rolling his eyes. "As utterly entertaining as it would be to watch you embarrass yourself showing me some crayon drawing you made, I have about a hundred and thirty-seven better things I could be doing than listening to some kids who got lost on their way home from kindergarten. So if you'll excuse me…"

Calvin just smiled and raised his arm. "ADAMWEST, initialize," he said.

The Duel Disk began to shift, and the holographic screens appeared around Calvin. Calvin smirked and swept his hand through the air, repositioning the screens so that Kaiba could have a better look at them.

"It's called a 'Duel Disk Plus'," said Calvin. "It's not your ordinary Duel Disk; it's also a phone, a camera, and a music player, among about a dozen other things. I can see I now have your attention."

Kaiba had indeed stopped his retreat. "And why exactly should I not immediately sue you- or whoever _really_ invented that thing- for modifying KaibaCorp technology without permission?"

Calvin froze. "Um…" he said slowly, "because I, um, I can…I'd…er…"

"You didn't think this through very well, did you?" asked Susie, rolling her eyes.

"The good news is, I'm in a good mood today," said Kaiba.

"Really?" asked Hobbes. "How can you tell?" Fortunately Kaiba couldn't hear him.

"This thing does look like a potentially profitable new product," said Kaiba. "Now hand it over, kid, so someone who knows that they're doing can get a look at it."

"Not so fast," said Calvin. "This little baby comes with a price."

"I figured," said Kaiba, rolling his eyes. "Well then, what's it going to cost me? I guarantee I can afford it."

"Oh, this isn't about money!" exclaimed Calvin. "I challenge you to a duel, Kaiba!"

"And let me guess," said Kaiba. "I only get the device if I win?"

"Not quite," said Calvin. "If you win, you get exactly one hour alone with the device to study it, and I keep my personal machine off the market while you market your own product. If I win, I get access to certain technology that I have reason to believe your aerospace division has recently developed."

"Yeah, I'm gonna go with _no_ ," said Kaiba. "The mere fact that you think _anyone_ can intimidate me, let alone a preschooler like you, shows you clearly don't understand who you're dealing with." He started to turn away.

"Very well then," said Calvin, his smirk reasserting itself. "It's just as well; I really should have known better than to waste my time on second-rate duelists."

Kaiba stopped dead in his tracks. He slowly turned back to Calvin. "What did you just say?" he asked in that dangerously calm tone that sent a chill down everyone's spines.

"Well, I mean, _how_ often have you lost to Yugi Moto?" asked Calvin. "At least three times that I know of. There was the time with Exodia, the time at Duelist Kingdom, and of course who could forget the time at Battle City where you had Obelisk the Tormentor- arguably the best God Card in terms of sheer power- and STILL lost to Yugi. You have to be pretty pathetic to not only throw a tournament for yourself, but also to _lose_ said tournament. And that's not even counting all the times you lost to people who in turn lost to Yugi!"

Kaiba's fists clenched. "I'll have you know I beat Yugi at Duelist Kingdom!" he shouted.

"Yeah," said Calvin, "because you threw a temper tantrum and threatened to kill yourself if you lost! And incidentally, immediately after winning you stormed into the castle and proceeded to get your butt thoroughly kicked by Pegasus, who went on to be defeated by who? None other than good old Yugi!"

"Listen, kid," hissed Kaiba. "You are on very thin ice right now…"

"I don't know why I even bothered," said Calvin. "I should just go duel someone worth my time. Someone like, oh, I don't know…Joey Wheeler?"  
" _That's it, you little brat!_ " shouted Kaiba. "If it's a duel you want, it's a duel you'll get!" He pulled a radio out of his pocket. "Mokuba!" he shouted. "Ready the rooftop duel arena!"

"On it, big bro!" exclaimed Mokuba's familiar high-pitched voice.

"I'll be back in a couple minutes," said Kaiba. "I have to go retrieve my Duel Disk." And with that, he turned and stalked back to the elevator.

"Well, now you've gone and done it," said Susie. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"Don't worry!" said Calvin. "I've got this all planned out." He looked over at Hobbes. "Remember that thing we discussed?" he asked.

"I guess so," said Hobbes. "You really think I can pull it off?"

"Oh yeah," said Calvin with a grin. "I've got trust in you buddy!" His eyes suddenly widened. "Wait a minute, I almost forgot!" he exclaimed.

He quickly rushed over to a nearby potted plant, fiddled around with something no one else could see, and then straightened up. "Hey Hobbes," he said. "Can you walk over here for a second? Check to make sure the plant is in working order?"

"…it's a plant!" protested Susie, who was rapidly losing track of what was going on.

"Yeah, well, I've had plenty of plans foiled by defective plants in the past," said Calvin.

Hobbes walked over to the plant. As he did so, Calvin walked over to Moe. He handed the former bully his iPhone. "Here's something for you to do," he said. "Pull up a video and watch it while I'm gone." Then, in a move which would ordinarily have been quite strange but which was quite frankly par for the course at this point, he quickly leaned in and whispered something to Moe that Susie couldn't hear. He straightened up. "Think you can handle that?" he asked.

"Uh…I think so," said Moe. "This one, right?" he pointed to something on the screen.

"Yep!" said Calvin. "Just do what I said, and everything will be perfectly fine!"

Hobbes straightened up from the planet. "Everything seems to be in working order," he said.

"CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON?!" exclaimed Susie, turning to Calvin. "What did you discuss with Hobbes? What did you just tell Moe? How can a plant be defective? What does it matter what he does on your phone? _And for Celestia's sake, why are you wearing new pants?!_ "

Everyone looked down. Sure enough, Calvin was no longer wearing his familiar "shorts"; instead, he had a pair of khaki pants paired with his familiar red t-shirt. Calvin blinked. "Susie, I've had these pants for three days," he said.

Susie spluttered weakly, then sighed. "I'm not going to get any answers out of you, am I?" she asked.

"Nope!" said Calvin. "Because I do believe Kaiba's back."

Sure enough, the elevator dinged and the doors opened to reveal Kaiba. He was wearing his familiar Duel Disk and scowl combo. He gestured to Calvin. "Get in," he said. "I want to get this over with as fast as possible."

"Oh, I assure you," said Calvin, "this is one duel you're not going to want to miss."

He stepped forward into the elevator. He shot one last glance back at the group. "You guys know what to do?" he asked.

"Yes," said Hobbes.

"I think so," said Moe.

"Absolutely not," said Susie.

"Good, good enough, and excellent!" exclaimed Calvin. "Well then, see you guys in ten minutes or so once I've dealt with Kaiba!"

And with that, the doors closed and the longest elevator ride of Calvin's life began.

It wasn't so much that the ride itself was long. The KaibaCorp building was actually only about 45 stories high (not all that impressive in terms of skyscrapers), and the elevator was state-of-the-art and quite fast. But even a thirty-second window of time can seem like an eternity when you're spending it with a twenty-year-old billionaire who hates your guts. Needless to say, Calvin let out a small sigh of relief when the elevator dinged again and the doors opened.

The rooftop dueling arena was significantly more impressive than Calvin had expected. When Kaiba had dueled Bakura at the start of the Dawn of the Duel arc (or Millennium World arc, as Calvin insisted on calling it on the principle of Rule of Cool), the two had essentially been dueling on an ordinary building's rooftop. Now there was a sleek dueling arena set up, the smooth back surface marked with white lines to distinguish the placement of monsters.

Calvin took his place on the battlefield as Kaiba silently strode to the other side. He had decided that if he was going to get one chance at dueling a character from the show, he was going to milk it for all it was worth. As much of a jerk as Kaiba was, he still technically counted as one of the protagonists; Calvin supposed that made him the villain of the episode. And if he was going to be a villain, he was going to make his performance as hammy as possible.

"Now then, Kaiba!" he exclaimed. "Let's see how your dueling skills match up against those of the one and only… _Calvin the Bold!_ "

"Oh, we'll see alright," said Kaiba. He held out his Duel Disk and released the projectors; Calvin did the same. The two slotted their decks into the duel disks and drew their first five cards.

The duel had begun.

"Alright, kid," declared Kaiba. "I'd like to wrap this up as soon as I can, so let's not waste time. In fact, I'll even let you go first."

"Thanks," said Calvin, knowing that the gesture wasn't really an advantage. Kaiba simply knew that he wouldn't be able to attack on the first turn, so he was giving Calvin the opening move; that way, Kaiba could attack as soon as he summoned.

Calvin looked down at his hand...and grinned. He had drawn his first anti-Kaiba card, and some nice support for it. _Alright, Kaiba_ , thought Calvin, _time to show you how we duel back in_ my _universe!_

He held up a card as dramatically as possible. "I ACTIVATE FINAL COUNTDOWN!" he exclaimed.

He slammed the card into his Duel Disk. Instantly the entire battlefield dimmed, as if a cloud has passed over the sun. A screen appeared as Calvin's Life Points dropped from 4000 to 2000.

"You see," said Calvin, "during each one of our End Phases, one Destruction Counter is placed onto this card. And when I've accumulated twenty Destruction Counters, I will automatically win the duel!"

"I see what you're doing," said Kaiba. "You know you can't hope to beat me by skill or by force, so you set a hard time limit on the duel and hope to stall until you win by default. Unfortunately, you forgot one fairly obvious thing: you just halved your own Life Points, which means that my monsters will make short work of you on my next turn!"

"Yeah, about that," said Calvin, "I activate the effect of Valiant Tiger! By discarding him from my hand, I can recover any effect damage I've taken this turn! Which means my Life Points are right back where they started!" He slipped the card into the Graveyard and held his arms wide as a screen appeared, showing his Life Points rise back to 4000.

"Hah!" exclaimed Calvin. "What do you have to say to THAT?"

"I say," said Kaiba, "that twenty turns is eighteen more than I need to obliterate you!"

"Whatever you say, Kaiba," said Calvin. "Now that that's all done, I place two cards face-down and end my turn." As he spoke, a small ball of red light flared into existence over his head. "The clock is ticking, Kaiba," he said with a sinister smile. "Your move."

"Finally," said Kaiba. "I draw!"

He pulled his sixth card and considered his hand. The edges of his scowl turned upwards. "Perfect," he said.

He looked up. "First," he said, "I activate the Spell Card Call of White Dragon! Thanks to this card, if I happen to have a Blue-Eyes White Dragon in my hand, I'm allowed to draw another Blue-Eyes straight from my deck!"

Calvin winced. That was not good; not only had Kaiba apparently drawn a Blue-Eyes to start with, but now he was pulling two Blue-Eyes at once. This could only be a bad thing.

"But you don't have to worry about that second Blue-Eyes quite yet," added Kaiba, "because I'm _also_ activating the Spell Card Blue-Eyes Vengeance! Thanks to this, by sending one Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my hand or field straight to the Graveyard, I can summon another from my hand! So I'm discarding one of my dragons to bring the other out immediately!"

Calvin gulped. "Oh, I am become error," he said quietly, as a huge circle of light appeared on the field.

"And now," exclaimed Kaiba, "it's time to show you what happens to people who challenge Seto Kaiba! Ladies and gentlemen, THE BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON!"

The dragon which rose out of the circle of light was even larger than Calvin had expected. It scales glistened silver, and its gaze was like being hit with a blast of concentrated ultraviolet light. (Which, as Calvin could attest after a certain particularly hectic game of Calvinball, was most definitely not fun.) The dragon drew back and let out a deafening roar. Looking at Kaiba, Calvin saw a look of cold satisfaction in his eyes.

 _This_ , Calvin thought to himself, _could be harder than I thought_.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for cutting you off a bit suddenly, and that this chapter is so short; I just wanted to get some content out. Summer's starting in a couple weeks, so hopefully I'll be in more of a writing mood after finals; I have a possible plan for increasing productivity still further, but…we'll see how that pans out, or if I even implement it at all.**

 **Also, it's time for what is rapidly becoming a tradition around these parts: upcoming story news! First of all, Cartoon Network threw a wrench into my plans for releasing** ** _The Homeworld Directive_** **after the season 2 finale by retroactively revealing "Log Date 7.15.2" to be the season 2 finale. Between the fact that the upcoming episodes are now apparently season 3 and the show's notoriously sporadic update schedule…yeah, I really have no idea what this means for release. Let's tentatively say the Season 3 finale, since we should have more information about Homeworld (which I will obviously need for the story) by then.**

 **In regards to** ** _Voidtrapped_** **, I'm still HOPING to have** ** _some_** **sort of content done by the promised date of the Steam Summer Sale, which is…okay, this actually hurts me to talk about. See, I didn't actually** ** _have_** **a Steam account when I wrote that bonus chapter, so I didn't know that not only does Steam have minor sales all the time, there's also a major Steam WINTER Sale that could easily have been a good release date. My justification for this is basically that Calvin didn't know either, and neither did unleashedGenesis. Definitely. Consider it no more.**

 **Next, there's the matter of the ever-elusive** ** _The Angels of Misthaven_** **. I've actually made an executive decision on this one: this story will not be published until** ** _Once Upon A Time_** **is finished. This is measure which is necessary for two reasons: to prevent myself from taking on too many stories at once (may already be too late), and because OUAT is such a continuity snarl that any detail I add will instantly be invalidated by the next episode.**

 **And finally, some exciting news: I'm finally announcing the secret story I've been working on! The story is a crossover of** ** _My Little Pony: Equestria Girls_** **and** ** _Ben 10_** **, and will be called…**

 ** _SUNSET 16_**

 **Details about the new story will be available on my profile in a few minutes. I'm just so excited to finally share the details of this project with you, and I really think you're going to enjoy it when it finally arrives- not in the least because there are going to be some fan-submission elements early on.**

 **Anyway, that's about all the news for now. Well, I've got to study for finals and start writing Episode 9. Again, after this I should be able to update faster. Until then, may destiny's will be swift and just!**

 **\- Golden Keyblade**


	10. Episode 09

Episode 09: In His Blue Eyes Part 2

 **A/N: I figured you guys could probably use some cheering up, so I'm releasing this a couple days early. We originally planned to release Chapters 9 and 10 at the same time, but what with...well, you know what with...I made an executive decision to release this one early. Figured we could at least finish up the cliffhanger.**

* * *

Calvin was not having a good day. This, he felt, was an unambiguous fact. Normally a bad or good day was a matter of opinion, but Calvin had long felt that any day which included you staring down a Blue-Eyes White Dragon with hardly a card to your name was probably not great.

"I'll admit, this duel lasted longer than I expected," said Kaiba. "But in the end, I think anyone with a positive IQ could have figured out how this duel was going to go." He raised his hand. "Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" he exclaimed. "Lay waste to his Life Points with _White Lightning_!"

The dragon drew back and prepared to fire its trademark brilliant fire breath. Kaiba looked at Calvin, expecting to see an expression of fear or panic.

Instead, the boy smiled. "I activate my Trap Card: Negate Attack!" he exclaimed. "Now I know this might be tricky for you, so I'll break this effect down: your… attack… is… negated!"

Kaiba scowled angrily as the dragon's flames died in its throat. Calvin savored the scowl, especially in the knowledge that this was almost the exact same line Kaiba('s voice actor) had used on Joey('s voice actor) at a scripted duel at a convention back in Calvin's universe.

"Fine then," spat Kaiba. "I place a card face down and end my turn."

A second ball of fire appeared above Calvin's head. Calvin smiled. Soon enough the circle would be complete, and victory would be within his grasp.

"Now then," said Calvin, "I play the Spell Card _Nine Lives_! Thanks to this, I can summon Valiant Tiger straight from the Graveyard! So welcome back, pal!"

The red-and-black tiger rose from a pool of light; it quickly dropped into a fighting position and growled at the dragon. Its stat screen appeared: **1200 ATK / 900 DEF / LVL: 3**.

"And now," exclaimed Calvin, "I'm _also_ going to summon up Space Mambo! So brace yourself!"

As the card entered the field, a new monster appeared; this one didn't appear from a golden disk on the field, but rather a ball of floating light. It appeared to be a massive floating sunfish, its skin neon blue and covered in neon green lines. A stat screen appeared by its side as it swam aimlessly through the sky over the building: **1700 ATK / 1000 DEF / LVL: 4**.

"What even _is_ that thing?" asked Kaiba, more in confusion than anything else.

"I…honestly have no idea," admitted Calvin. "I've had this card for ages and I still have no goddamn idea what it's supposed to be." He shook his head. "But it doesn't matter! What matters is that now I'm going to use these two monsters to perform a Synchro Summon!"

Valiant Tiger leapt into the air, transforming into the familiar green rings. At the same time Space Mambo soared through the rings, fading into a golden star-filled wire-frame and beginning to transform.

"Now then," said Calvin, "time to show you the true power of tigers! Let's have a warm Domino City welcome for…TIGER DRAKE!"

The catlike dragon burst from the rings, landing on the field with a Godzilla-like roar. Its white stat screen appeared before Kaiba: **2500 ATK / 2000 DEF / LVL: 7**.

"And," said Calvin with a smile that he tried his best to make look non-forced, "since my hand is now empty, I guess it's time to end my turn."

He glanced upwards as the third ball of fire appeared overhead; the arc of the circle was beginning to become visible. He smiled. "Tick tock, Kaiba."

Kaiba drew. Apparently he liked what he had just pulled, because he gave Calvin a look. "So," he said, "your hand is empty, huh? What a shame. Tell you what: since my company is so profitable, I can afford to be a little generous from time to time. So I activate a Spell Card known as Card of Sanctity! Thanks to this, we both draw until we have six cards in our hand."

"Okay, seriously!" exclaimed Calvin, throwing his hands up in frustration. "Is there _any_ such thing as a banlist in this universe?!"

"Just draw before I change my mind," snapped Kaiba.

Calvin pulled the top six cards from his deck. He considered his hand; he'd drawn some pretty good cards. Looking down, he smiled: he had drawn his next anti-Kaiba card. Now it was just a matter of getting it out…

"I don't get it, Kaiba," he remarked. "You still had three cards in your hand besides that one. Why did you need to draw three more, especially if doing so would also give me a full hand?"

"Simple," said Kaiba. "First of all, there's the issue of stalling. I know you're counting on that Final Countdown card to win, so I've got to pick up the pace if I'm going to deck you out in just twenty turns."

Calvin looked down at his deck. He knew what "deck out" meant, of course; it meant running out of cards and automatically losing the duel. Calvin always played with a full sixty cards, so it never seemed like an issue. On the downside, he _had_ just burned through around a fifth of the deck in just four turns.

"But more importantly," said Kaiba, "it gives me the cards I need to pull off my next trick."

'Uh-oh,' thought Calvin. 'What the hell does he have planned?'

"Now then," exclaimed Kaiba, "I summon Kaiser Sea Horse in Attack Mode!"

The new monster appeared on the field. It was pretty much what you'd expect from the name: a large armor-plated seahorse-like monster. Its stat screen appeared: **1700 ATK / 1650 DEF / LVL: 4**.

"Hah!" scoffed Calvin. "That pathetic seahorse is nothing compared to my Tiger Drake!"

"I'm perfectly aware of that," said Kaiba. "Which is why I'm activating the Spell Card Smoke and Mirrors! Thanks to this, I can pay 500 Life Points to treat one Advanced Summon as a Special Summon, allowing me to summon again! Combine that with Kaiser Sea Horse's special ability, which allows it to be treated as two tributes for the purposes of Advanced Summoning, and I think you can tell what's about to happen."

"Yeah, I have a reasonable idea," said Calvin quietly.

"Behold!" exclaimed Kaiba. "My second _Blue-Eyes White Dragon_!"

The seahorse disappeared into a ball of rainbow light. In its place appeared a new dragon, identical to Kaiba's first. The two dragons let out identical bellowing roars. Its stat screen appeared, identical to the first: **3000 ATK / 2500 DEF / LVL: 8**. Behind the dragon, Kaiba's Life Points dropped to 3500.

"You pulled _all three_ right off the bat?!" exclaimed Calvin.

"Yeah, so?" challenged Kaiba.

"That's against the rules, isn't it?" asked Calvin.

Sadly, Kaiba was unaware of the reference and did not comply. "…not really," he said, slightly nonplussed by this apparent non-sequitur.

"Worth a shot," sighed Calvin. "Looks like I owe Hobbes five bucks."

"Now," said Kaiba, "thanks to the effect of Smoke and Mirrors, my second Blue-Eyes can't attack this turn. But my first Blue-Eyes can! And there's nothing to stop me from using it to wreck your Life Points! _Blue-Eyes! Attack Tiger Drake with White Lightning!_ "

The dragon drew back and fired a blast of pure energy at Calvin. This time Calvin had no Trap Card to stop it. The energy ball smashed into Tiger Drake, destroying it in a blinding flash of light. Calvin's own Life Points fell to 3500.

"And now," said Kaiba, "I lay a card face down. Your move, if you think you can stand up to not one, but TWO Blue-Eyes."

A fourth ball of fire appeared overhead.

"Okay then," said Calvin, desperately trying to regain his composure. The appearance of a second Blue-Eyes had shaken him. "I…draw!"

He pulled the card…and instantly smiled. _NOW we're talking!_ he thought. "Hey, Kaiba-boy!" he called.

"Call me that again and I'm calling the police," said Kaiba flatly.

"I'd like to make a little bet with you," said Calvin. "I'm about to destroy both of your Blue-Eyes White Dragons…with one card."

"Yeah, right!" exclaimed Kaiba. "Like any card would be powerful enough to destroy two Blue-Eyes White Dragons in one turn! Play whatever card you want!"

"Very well then!" exclaimed Calvin. "First things first: since I can only have six cards in my hand at any given time, I have to send one to the Graveyard. So I'm going to discard Armed Dragon LV 5 for the moment. Sorry for back-benching you so much, buddy, but this is a card I can't afford to lose!"

He held the card he had drawn high over his head and injected as much ham into his voice as possible as he slammed it into his Spell Card Zone. "I ACTIVATE _**DARK HOLE**_!"

A shadowy vortex appeared on the field. The dragons roared in anger as they were slowly dragged into it. Kaiba's eyes widened. "What's going on here?!" he exclaimed.

"Simple!" exclaimed Calvin. "Dark Hole is a Spell Card which instantly destroys all monsters on the field! So it looks like your dragons…are about to take the plunge!"

A shadowy vortex formed over the field. Within seconds a full-fledged black hole had appeared in the sky. With roars of protest, the two dragons were pulled upwards by the sheer force of gravity and disappeared into the darkness.

When recounting the duel later, Calvin could never quite find the words to describe the expression on Kaiba's face. Words like "indignant" and "livid" fell short of the true burning rage Kaiba was sending Calvin's way. But the one description he could agree on was that the look was utterly, absolutely _priceless_.

"Just for that," said Kaiba, "I'm not going to hold back anymore."

"Good," said Calvin, his smirk widening. "Neither will I. Now then, I place one card face down and end my turn. And that," he added, as another fireball appeared, "makes five."

"Fine then," said Kaiba. "I draw."

He pulled a card from his deck and considered it. His demeanor had suddenly gone very calm. This, Calvin knew, was probably a very bad sign. When Kaiba was angry, you knew he wasn't thinking straight; he was still dangerous, but he became a tad more predictable. When he was calm, that was when he was _really_ focused.

"You may have thrown me for a loop with that Dark Hole card," said Kaiba, "but you've made a big mistake: you left yourself wide open to a direct attack!"

"…I did?" asked Calvin. Then he blinked. He had completely forgotten to summon a monster during the last turn.

"Now then," Kaiba said, "first I activate Soul Release! This allows me to banish up to five cards from either of our Graveyards…and I choose my three Blue-Eyes White Dragons!"

"Oh, that is not good," whispered Calvin. He knew full well what Kaiba was about to do. It was a modified version of the strategy Kaiba had used against Pegasus in the _Pyramid of Light_ movie, and it had been literally the killing blow. If he pulled the same thing right now…

"And now," exclaimed Kaiba, "I activate a Spell Card: _Escape from the Different Dimension_! Thanks to this, I pay 300 Life Points apiece to summon back as many monsters from my Banished Zone as possible; however, they can't attack this turn and any special abilities they might have are permanently negated. So welcome back, my dragons!"

An immense golden doorway appeared in mid-air. Out of this doorway flew both the dragons Calvin had destroyed on his last turn, as well as a third. Kaiba's Life Points fell to 2600.

Calvin lowered his guard ever so slightly. The good news was, Kaiba wasn't replicating his exact strategy from the movie. In his duel with Pegasus, he had used the almost hilariously broken Return from the Different Dimension, a Trap Card that brought back as many monsters from the Banished Zone as you wanted with no penalty in exchange for half your Life Points. At least this way Calvin was safe this turn. Still, Kaiba had just brought out 9000 Attack Points worth of pain for a pretty measly cost, and Blue-Eyes didn't have any effects to negate.

"Nice try," said Calvin, "but all you're doing with those effects is burning out your own Life Points! I haven't even landed an attack yet and you're halfway to zero!"

"That's what you think, kid!" exclaimed Kaiba. "I activate my Trap Card: Damage Vaccine Omega Max! Thanks to this, when I take damage from-"

"I know what the card does," grumbled Calvin. "It gives you back any Life Points you lose due to an effect or battle, including your own. So you effectively have no penalty whatsoever. Why am I not surprised?"

"That's right!" exclaimed Kaiba. "Thanks to this card, my Life Points go right back to 3500! Now then, Escape from the Different Dimension also prevents me from activating cards from my hand for the rest of the turn, so I think I'll end my turn here."

A sixth ball of light appeared over Kaiba.

"Alright then," said Calvin. "Time to make this next move count! I… _draw_!"

He pulled a card as dramatically as possible. He considered his hand…and smiled. It was time to show Kaiba exactly who he was dealing with.

"This first card should be a blast from the past!" he exclaimed. "I activate the Spell Card _Swords of Revealing Light!_ "

Without warning, three large glowing swords appeared above Kaiba's side of the field. They slammed themselves into the ground, and the three dragons suddenly stopped moving.

"Now none of your monsters can declare an attack for your next three turns!" exclaimed Calvin. "And _that_ should give me plenty of time to set up your defeat! Oh, what's the matter?" he added, seeing the look on Kaiba's face. "Why so glum? Is it because you won't get to play with your fancy dragons for three turns? Or is it just because you remember all the times Yugi totally kicked your butt with this card?"

Kaiba didn't respond. Calvin rather suspected he was letting the anger build up, directing it into his strategy. With a bit of luck, he wouldn't last that long.

"Now then," said Calvin, "I reveal my Trap Card: Call of the Haunted! Thanks to this, I can summon one monster from my Graveyard and keep it there as long as this card remains on the field! And the monster I'm bringing back is…Armed Dragon LV5!"

A cloud of purple smoke filled the field. Out of the smoke emerged the familiar bulky dragon, which grunted in general aggression and fixed Kaiba with a steely look.

"But you don't have to worry about him," said Calvin, 'because I'm sacrificing both him and Tiger Drake to bring out an old friend! Now prepare to have your world shattered as I turn your own most powerful monster against you!"

He held up a card. "BEHOLD!" he shouted. "I SACRIFICE TIGER DRAKE AND ARMED DRAGON LV5 TO BRING OUT… _ **THE BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON!**_ "

The two dragons transformed into rainbow light and merged into a single orb. From this orb emerged a vast new figure: a silvery dragon, almost identical to those Kaiba had summoned. It bellowed in rage and opened its wings wide, as if revealing itself to the entire world.

Kaiba looked absolutely stunned. "But how?!" he exclaimed. "Pegasus only ever made four Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards! Three of them are on my field right now, and I tore up the fourth one years ago! How could there possibly be another one, let alone in the possession of some twerp like you?!"

"Oh, I'm just _full_ of surprises," said Calvin, his smugness at maximum. "Now then, just to add insult to your imminent injury, I equip my own Blue-Eyes with the Spell Card _Mystical Dragon Crown_! Thanks to this, your monsters can't destroy my Blue-Eyes in battle as long as this crown is equipped!"

A tiny golden crown materialized on Calvin's dragon's head. To be honest, it actually looked kind of silly.

"And now," exclaimed Calvin, "it's time for the main event! Blue-Eyes White Dragon! Take out Kaiba's Blue-Eyes with _White Lightning_!"

Calvin's dragon drew back and fired a beam of energy directly at the Blue-Eyes in the middle of Kaiba's field. Normally the two dragons, having equal ATK, would have destroyed each other; however, between the Equip Spell preventing Calvin's monster from being destroyed and Swords of Revealing Light still binding Kaiba's side of the field, Kaiba's dragon didn't stand a chance.

Kaiba flinched, but only momentarily. In the blink of an eye, his composure was back. "Nice try," he said, "but you aren't getting off that easily. I've still got two dragons on my field!"

"Give it time," said Calvin, his smirk somehow becoming even more smug. "After all, Swords of Revealing Light prevents you from attacking for another two of your turns." He shrugged. "But you know what, Kaiba? You're right!"

Kaiba blinked. "About my dragons, or just in general?" he asked.

"Given enough time, you probably _will_ get your third dragon back, either in your hand or on your field," said Calvin. "And they won't be coming out alone; given your comment about only ending because you couldn't play cards from your hand, I'm guessing you're currently holding exactly the Spell Card you want: Polymerization!"

"You're cleverer than I gave you credit for," admitted Kaiba with a smirk of his own.

"Well, I _did_ beat the entire _Phoenix Wright_ trilogy," said Calvin. He wasn't entirely sure why he chose to lie about this (he was only on Case 2-3, and he'd only gotten that far with the aid of a walkthrough), especially since he knew Kaiba wouldn't know what _Phoenix Wright_ was; still, it sounded like something appropriate to the moment at hand.

"Since you've so brilliantly made the deduction," said Kaiba, "I suppose there's no harm in confirming your theory: I do indeed have a fusion spell in my hand. And as soon as I get my last Blue-Eyes back, I'm going to summon a force of unimaginable destructive power!"

"The Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon," said Calvin, nodding. "That's a nice idea, Kaiba, but I'm afraid you forgot one important detail."

"Oh really?" asked Kaiba, raising an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

" **You just activated my Trap Card!** " exclaimed Calvin. "Reveal, Trap: Non-Fusion Area! As long as this card remains face-up on the field, neither of us is going to be doing any Fusion Summoning!"

"You little rat!" shouted Kaiba. "You knew I was planning to summon Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

"Uh, _duh_ ," said Calvin, rolling his eyes. "You summon it _every_ time you duel. Honestly, it's embarrassing how predictable you are."

"Is that so?!" exclaimed Kaiba. "Well, why don't you just end your turn so I can show you just how 'predictable' I am!"

"You know what?" said Calvin. "Sounds good to me. I place one card face down and end my turn." He looked up to see another ball of light flare into existence. "And then there were seven," he chuckled.

Kaiba drew his card. He looked at Calvin. "Tell me something," he said. "When you were preparing to fight me, what duels did you study?"

"Take your pick," said Calvin. "There was the first time Yugi beat you, that time Pegasus beat you at Duelist Kingdom, the entirety of Battle City, the KC World Championship…"

"Interesting," said Kaiba. "Now then, I summon my next monster: _Maiden with Eyes of Blue_!"

A new monster appeared on the field. This one was, to Calvin's surprise, a woman with a long brown dress and even longer silver hair. She looked at Calvin and gave a carefree laugh as her stats appeared: **0 ATK / 0 DEF / LVL: 1**.

"And just to keep things interesting," said Kaiba, "I end my turn."

On Kaiba's field, one of the glowing swords shattered into a million pieces. In the sky, fireball number eight joined its brethren.

Calvin actually laughed out loud as he drew. "Are you kidding?!" he exclaimed. "A level one monster with no attack or defense points?! I'll crush this thing in an instant! Blue-Eyes White Dragon, _obliterate that Maiden_!"

In retrospect, Calvin literally could not believe he fell for that.

"Not so fast!" exclaimed Kaiba. "I activate the effect of my Maiden: when she's targeted by an attack by my opponent, I can not only negate the attack, but can also summon one Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my hand, field, _or_ Graveyard!"

"WAIT!" Calvin cried to his dragon, desperately trying to backpedal. But alas, there are no take-backs in Duel Monsters. The dragon's fire fizzled in its mouth, and a new monster rose from a purple portal on Kaiba's field. It was, without a doubt, his third Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

Calvin desperately tried to reclaim the situation. "Yeah?" he challenged. "Well, my trap still prevents you from fusing your dragons together, so _take that_!" He pointed dramatically as he spoke these last words, still not certain why he was making _Ace Attorney_ references to someone who was by definition incapable of understanding them.

Kaiba smirked, which was never a good sign. "Oh, I may not be able to Fusion Summon," he said, "but don't think for a second I don't have any tricks up my sleeve."

"I was afraid you'd say that," sighed Calvin. "I place one card face down and end my turn."

Above them, a ninth fireball appeared in the sky.

"Almost halfway there," Calvin reminded Kaiba. "You'd better turn this duel around quick, or I'll end up winning even before Final Countdown finishes you off!"

"Oh, I don't think so," said Kaiba. "It's my draw!" He pulled the card from his deck...and smiled. That, Calvin knew, was universally a bad sign.

"Hey kid," he said. "Remember that little bet? Well I've got one right back at you: I'm going to end this duel on this turn, without playing a single card from my hand."

Calvin grinned back. "You know what?" he said. "I'll take that bet. You may be good, but no one's _that_ good. You're monsters are prevented from attacking, you can't fuse, you've got no Xyz, and you certainly don't have any..."

"And now," shouted Kaiba, who apparently was not interested in hearing where Calvin's speech was going, "I'm going to perform a _Synchro Summon_!"

"...you're doing what now?" asked Calvin, his voice suddenly a lot weaker than it had been moments earlier.

"Got your attention now, have I?" asked Kaiba. "Good, because I'd hate for you to miss the main event! Now then, I use the Tuner Monster Maiden with Eyes of Blue to tune one of my three Blue-Eyes White Dragons!"

The girl on the field closed her eyes and leapt upwards into the sky; as she did, she transformed into a single elaborate green ring. The middle Blue-Eyes took off into the sky and soared through the ring, changing as it did into a golden wireframe containing eight stars. A burst of light exploded through the air, forcing Calvin to look away. When it faded, there was a very different dragon descending toward the field: one with shinier scales and an overall more sinister look in its eyes. Its stat screen appeared: **2500 ATK / 3000 DEF / LVL: 9**.

"Behold!" exclaimed Kaiba. "My ultimate creature of destruction: _Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon!_ "

"But...but that's impossible!" protested Calvin; he could practically _feel_ the situation spiraling out of what little control he had. "You didn't have that card before! It's not supposed to exist yet!"

"More of your aimless rambling," snapped Kaiba. "As I think you can see, this card is very real, and so is its effect: on the turn of its summoning, no Dragon-Type monsters on my field can be targeted by card effects, including Swords of Revealing Light!"

As he spoke these words, Calvin suddenly realized, to his horror, that the previously frozen dragons were now moving around again. He instinctively took a step back. "Nice try," he said, "but you forgot one very important thing: my Blue-Eyes is still protected by Mystical Dragon Crown! None of your dragons are strong enough to destroy mine; and since you can't damage my Life Points, you're out of options for now!" He allowed some of his trademark cockiness to creep back into his voice. "Look like you lost that bet after all!"

"Oh I wouldn't count your winnings just yet," said Kaiba. "Try reading the card effect again."

"The...card effect?" asked Calvin, confused.

"It's simple," said Kaiba. "Your card _doesn't_ specifically prevent your dragon from being destroyed in battle; it prevents _other monsters_ from destroying it in battle. In short, it doesn't target _your_ dragon, it targets _my_ dragons! And as you may remember, _my_ dragons are immune to card effects for the rest of my turn!"

"WHAT?!" screamed Calvin in horror.

"Tell me," said Kaiba, "did you even both to _read_ the effects of the cards in your deck? Because that seems like a pretty amateur mistake to me!"

Calvin's head was spinning. There was no way this could be happening; he'd been winning just a turn ago! How could Kaiba have turned it around so fast? He desperately wracked his brain for a solution. For a moment his eyes alighted on the face-down cards on his field, but he quickly rejected them as a possibility; the cards were Negate Attack, which targeted enemy monsters and was therefore stopped by Azure-Eyes's effect, and Card Design 101, which was useless in this context.

"Now then, Blue-Eyes number one!" exclaimed Kaiba. "Crush his imposter dragon! _White Lightning!_ "

The Blue-Eyes on the right opened its mouth, a ball of fire growing within it. Sensing that the attack points were equal, Calvin's dragon opened its mouth and prepared a similar fireball. The two fired at the exact same instant; the beams collided, blasting up smoke and dust from the middle of the battlefield. When the smoke cleared, the two dragons were nowhere to be seen.

"Looks like someone just ran out of options," said Kaiba, his smirk growing still wider. "Now then, Blue-Eyes number 2! Attack Calvin directly! _White Lightning!_ "

The second dragon drew back and fired a beam of its own, this one directly at Calvin. Calvin was thrown backwards by the force, landing on his back on the ground. As he looked up, he saw the screen displaying his Life Points drop from 3500 to 500.

"This...this can't be happening!" he protested. "This isn't how it works! I've got Final Countdown out; this is supposed to go down to the final turn! You can't have that Synchro Monster! You can't just negate the Swords of Revealing Light or call out the exact wording of my card effects! _This isn't how it works in the show!_ "

"I hate to break it to you, kid," shouted Kaiba, "but you've been watching too much TV! This isn't one of your dumb cartoons; this is real life! And now let me show you just how real it is! Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon! _Wipe out his remaining Life Points!_ "

The dragon drew back and fired a beam of pure white light out of its mouth. Calvin tried to scramble back, but the beam caught him and blasted him backwards. As he flew backwards, two words echoed across the battlefield and down into the city below.

" **THAT'S CHEATIIIIIIIIIIIING!** "

Calvin slammed into the closed elevator door. The beam finally faded, causing him to flop onto the cement surface of the KaibaCorp roof. Above him, his Life Points dropped to zero; a new screen appeared, with the words "WINNER: Seto Kaiba" flashing over and over.

"As everyone expected," muttered Kaiba. "What a waste of my time."

Calvin staggered to his feet. "I demand a rematch!" he shouted. "I wasn't ready for...any of that! You just caught me off guard!"

"Sorry, but that wasn't the deal," snapped Kaiba, stalking up to Calvin. "One duel, and you lost. Now hand over that Duel Disk Plus."

Calvin spluttered in frustration for a moment, then sighed. "Fine," he said, holding out his arm. "Here. Sixty minutes; that was the agreement. Better get your scientists to work fast."

Kaiba snatched the device off Calvin's arm and held it at arm's length, studying it with interest. Without another word he stalked past Calvin into the elevator and pressed the button for what Calvin suspected was the R&D lab. The door closed, leaving Calvin alone on the rooftop.

Calvin pressed the "down" button, but figured it would be a minute or two before the elevator got back. He sighed and sat down on the concrete to wait.

"Welp," he said quietly. "That sucked."

* * *

Susie paced nervously around the lobby. It had been about twenty minutes and there had been no sign of Calvin. There had also been no sign of Hobbes, who had left the lobby shortly after Calvin with an excuse that he had to "go do a thing at a place", running off deeper into the building unseen by the security lady.

At that moment, the elevator dinged. Out stepped Calvin, looking somewhat worse for wear; his hair was even more unkempt than usual, and there was a tear in the leg of his new pants.

Susie ran up. "Calvin!" she exclaimed. "What the heck _happened_?"

"Kaiba kicked my ass," he said simply. "We've got about fifty-five minutes to wait until he returns the Duel Disk Plus."

Susie's face fell. "So...we're not getting the time machine parts?" she asked.

"It doesn't seem that way," sighed Calvin. "But to be honest, this plan was a long shot anyway. One thing's for sure, though: I can forget about returning these." He gestured to his torn pants. He looked around. "Did Hobbes already leave on the thing?"

"Well, he left on _a_ thing," said Susie. "No idea if it's _the_ thing. Or anything else about what's going on, actually."

"Welp, there's nothing for us to do right now, that's for sure," said Calvin; he sat down on a nearby bench. "Might as well relax."

Susie sighed and sat down next to him. Nearby she could see Moe, who was still intently staring at whatever he was watching on the iPhone; he hadn't so much as looked up at her the entire time.

"So...how exactly did it go?" asked Susie. "I thought you said you had a bunch of anti-Kaiba cards, and that you saw how he duels in the show..."

"Turns out this isn't the show," sighed Calvin. "Kaiba did stuff that would never happen on the show, especially on his last turn. Turns out that learning to duel from the anime might not have been the most spectacular idea." He lay down on the bench. "Well," he said, "it looks like I've most certainly proven one thing."

"And what's that?" asked Susie.

"No matter how much I think otherwise sometimes, I'm not a main character."

Susie blinked. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing," said Calvin. "Just a thought I had when we first got here. It's...a long story."

The next almost-an-hour passed in almost complete silence. Susie asked Calvin about the duel a couple times, but he made it clear he wasn't in the mood, so she stopped. She took to whistling various cartoon theme songs to herself; Calvin joined in whenever there was a song he recognized, but that was about the extent of their conversation.

After what seemed like an eternity in the sterile purgatory of the KaibaCorp lobby, the elevator door opened again. Out strode Kaiba, looking smug as ever, followed by a couple of scientists making notes into some kind of PDA and whispering excitedly to each other. Kaiba walked over to Calvin and tossed him the Duel Disk Plus; Calvin lunged out and, after some obligatory flailing, caught it.

"We're done with our examinations," said Kaiba. "I admit, this thing has some pretty impressive features; I look forward to taking credit for them in the next product launch! Now, are you going to leave quietly, or will I have to call in security to throw you out?"

Calvin seemed to genuinely consider the question. He checked his watch, thought for another moment, and then seemed to come to a decision. "Nah, we'll leave on our own," he said. "Come on guys, let's go."

"But...what about Hobbes?" protested Susie.

"He can find his own way back," said Calvin with a shrug. "Moe, we're leaving."

Moe stood up, not taking his eyes off the screen; together, the three headed off towards the entrance.

Kaiba watched them leave with suspicion. He was glad to have won, of course- defeating others at dueling was one of the few things that made him genuinely happy- but there was something off about how all this had gone down. He couldn't help but feel like it had all been too convenient. This new technology dropping right out of the sky, at no more cost than a pathetically easy duel? He almost suspected there was something more at work here, as if this had all been some kind of greater trap...

He shook his head. The boy was just a kid; no way he could pull off something like that. Besides, KaibaCorp had the best security on the planet, and the secretary reported that all three had been in the lobby the entire time. There was no way he could have done anything.

He turned and walked back towards the elevator, followed by the scientists. They had work to do.

* * *

"So what now?" asked Susie.

"Well," said Calvin, leaning against the side of a building, "we should probably wait for Hobbes; if all goes well, his thing should be almost finished at this point. By the way, you can stop now," he added to Moe.

"Oh thank god," moaned Moe, finally tearing his eyes away from the screen. "My eyes hurt now."

"Wait...did you not _blink_ that entire time?!" exclaimed Calvin, looking surprised. "Dude, I just said you couldn't look away; I didn't say you couldn't _blink_! How did you not pass out?!"

"My mom says I'm very..." Moe seemed to struggle with a word for a few seconds before finally finishing. "...durable."

The three were across the street from KaibaCorp. At first it had looked like they'd been planning to head back to Duel Estates, but Calvin had insisted they wait here for a few minutes.

"I really don't understand what's going on," said Susie. "You said you were totally confident, but then you lost to Kaiba, and now you don't even seem bothered! Wasn't that technology crucial to building the time machine?"

"Sure it was," said Calvin. "But let's not count ourselves out of the race just yet. You probably haven't noticed, but I've been working on a little, shall we say, side plan?"

" _I noticed_ ," said Susie, rolling her eyes. "You've been acting weirder than usual all day; the reason I can't figure out is _why_! What are you up to?"

"All in good time," said Calvin. "Ah, there's Hobbes now!"

Sure enough, the tiger was walking towards the group. He had a huge smile, and was holding something behind his back.

"So, how'd it go?" he asked.

"I lost," sighed Calvin.

"As we both expected," remarked Hobbes.

Susie was expecting Calvin to angrily tackle the tiger in one of their regular fights. But instead, Calvin did something rather unexpected: he grinned back. "Yeah, pretty much," he said. "Kinda thought it would go longer; certainly didn't expect it to go the way it did. I'll tell you later. But enough about me: did you get what we needed?"

"Everything on the list," confirmed Hobbes.

"Nice!" exclaimed Calvin.

"Okay!" shouted Susie, jumping in-between the two. "Before we go any further, I'd just like to pause for a moment to ask _what the hell is going on?!_ I feel like I'm the only one out of the loop! Hobbes is in on it, Richard was in on it…hell, I think _Moe_ was in on it in some capacity!"

"Yeah, okay," said Calvin. "You do probably deserve an explanation."

At that moment, there was the sound of alarms from the KaibaCorp building. Lights began to flash from several windows on the upper floors.

"Okay, walk and talk," added Calvin quickly, starting to power-walk in the general direction of the hotel. The others began to follow him.

"Wait up!" called Susie. "What's with the alarms?"

"Oh, nothing," said Calvin. "It's probably just Kaiba realizing that we stole his technology."

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Susie.

"Oh come on," said Calvin, grinning at Susie over his shoulder as he walked. "Did you _really_ think I was overconfident enough to think I could take on **Kaiba**? Even I'm not THAT full of myself. I mean sure, I was hoping that my extra-dimensional dueling expertise and strategy would give me an edge, which it turns out didn't pan out; but in the end, Kaiba really is just _that good_. I knew I couldn't rely on defeating him to get access to the technology I needed for the time machine; I needed to come up with a backup plan, and then to make that backup plan the main plan. And that's where Hobbes came in. After all, heists become so much easier when you have a friend who's literally invisible."

Susie's eyes widened. "You mean the whole time you were dueling or waiting for the Duel Disk Plus, Hobbes was off stealing Kaiba's tech?"

"Yep!" exclaimed Hobbes. "You know, for a company as advanced as KaibaCorp, it was disturbingly easy. I snuck through with people going through doors, watched them enter passwords and then copied them, found where they were keeping the parts Calvin specified, and bagged them. Apparently whatever field keeps people from noticing me also extends to anything I'm in prolonged contact with, so I was able to just grab them and walk out without anyone noticing; they couldn't see the objects vanishing until it was too late. And then all the scientists _and Kaiba_ went into one lab to study the Duel Disk Plus, giving me complete freedom! If I were a lesser tiger, I might make a 'what a digital dummy' joke here."

"Wait," protested Susie, "but I thought whenever someone looked at you, they'd see a stuffed tiger until they looked away! Wouldn't the scientists be surprised by a stuffed tiger apparently teleporting around the lab?"

"Ah," said Calvin, "but that's where my genius comes in! You see, I realized that the stuffed tiger appears to be in the same place in which it was last observed. Ergo, if Hobbes is last observed by someone who can't see him and then that person doesn't look away from the same spot, the tiger remains in that spot even if Hobbes completely leaves the area. The strangest part is that, through testing, I found out it also applies to live-streamed footage of Hobbes, as long as there's not too much delay. And that's where Moe comes into the picture."

"Moe?" asked Susie. "What does he have to do with all this?"

"You see," said Calvin, "the video he was watching wasn't a video at all. It was a live feed of Hobbes from a hidden camera in the plant: the last place he was observed by someone who couldn't see him. As long as Moe kept his eyes on that video, the Hobbes doll would remain fixed in the same place and Hobbes himself would be completely unobserved in his exploration. Then I just had Hobbes grab the plant on the way out. It's the perfect crime!"

"Calvin provided me with a list of stuff he needed a while back," said Hobbes. "We'd considered trying this plan eventually; I just didn't know we were actually going through with it, or that it was happening today."

"But…where's the stuff?" asked Susie. "That must be a lot of equipment; where are you keeping all of it?"

"Right here!" exclaimed Hobbes. He held up the thing he had been holding behind his back this whole time: a pair of brown shorts.

Susie blinked in confusion. "Are those…Calvin's pants?" she asked.

"Yep!" exclaimed Hobbes. "And check this out!"

He reached into the back pocket of Calvin's pants and withdrew a large piece of machinery. Susie couldn't tell what it was, but it was _certainly_ too large to fit in the pocket.

Susie looked between the two in confusion. Finally she stopped on Calvin. "What," she said simply.

"Did Hobbes tell you about the Pillars?" asked Calvin. When Susie nodded in confirmation, he continued. "See, the Imagination Pillar hid itself by essentially disguising itself as an ordinary marker, which somehow found its way into my possession. Of course, not knowing it was actually an alien artifact, I just treated it as an ordinary marker, which meant I would frequently store it in my back pocket while working on inventions. And since I almost never capped markers unless I was putting them away, that meant a lot of 'ink' rubbed off on my back pocket, i.e. the energy of the Imagination Pillar was pouring out."

Susie managed to figure it out from there. "So your pocket is bigger on the inside?" she asked.

"Yep!" said Calvin with a grin. "In fact, my back pocket now contains a literal pocket universe, consisting of a hollow denim sphere approximately forty feet in diameter: more than enough to cram the necessary machinery into."

"But how did you get it through the small entryway?" asked Susie.

"With great difficulty," said Hobbes simply.

"Yeah, I kind of walked into that one," sighed Susie. "One more question: why didn't you _tell_ me any of this?"

"Security," said Calvin. "I still have no idea how or why this effect works; it's like an exploit in reality. I was afraid that if too many people knew how the effect worked, or the specific details of my plan, the universe would suddenly look over, be like 'WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?' and patch the exploit."

Susie considered this. She didn't know much about quantum physics, but from what she'd heard on the internet and considering the general weirdness of the situation, she supposed this wasn't an impossible idea. "Okay, yeah," she said. "I guess I'm sorry I flew off the handle at you."

"Apology accepted, and I'm also sorry I couldn't tell you," said Calvin, wisely deciding not to mention that at least part of the reason he hadn't told her was so there would be someone out of the loop for him to explain the whole thing to and be impressed by his planning. "So," he continued, "thanks to this little heist, we've got the technology for the time travel components! Now we just need some sort of chassis for the machine."

"What does that involve?" asked Susie.

"Something big," said Calvin. "Something mobile. Something that can hold the power source and all of the internal components. Something like..."

Suddenly Calvin stopped dead in his tracks. Slowly he turned to look at the storefront to his right. The rest of the group stopped as well, turning to see what exactly he was looking at.

They had stopped at what appeared to be the showroom of a car dealership. Through the glass they could see well-dressed people walking around, examining the models on display. But what Calvin was looking at was the display closest to the window. There, on a rotating platform of the kind typically seen in game shows, was a sleek silver motorcycle. A large computer monitor was displayed above the handlebars, and the card input slots and deck holder left no doubt in anyone's mind that it was a Duel Runner.

A manic grin spread across Calvin's face. "Oh _hell_ yes," he whispered.

He quickly pulled out his Duel Disk Plus and activated the "Call" function. He dialed in Richard's number and held the device near his ear. After a moment, there was a click indicating that the duel historian was on the line.

"Hello, Richard?" asked Calvin. "I have a small question: could I get an advance on our duel allowance for the next couple years or so? There's a pretty big purchase we need to make..."

* * *

 **A/N: Holy SHIT did this one take a while.**

 **What did you guys think? Was it worth the wait? I certainly think so, but I'll let you decide. Expect Episode 10 soon; and not in that "Oh it'll probably be a couple more months but we'll see" soon that I usually pull, I mean "before the end of the week" soon. Maybe tomorrow, I'm not sure yet. I'll have to see how fast Kitty and I finish it. Either way, take care, and I hope this improved your day a bit.**


	11. Episode 10

Episode 10: The Break-In

 **A/N: See, I told you it would only be a couple days!**

* * *

 **Duel Estates Room #631  
** **Three weeks after arrival through rift  
** **3:38 A.M.**

 _Running. He was running. He had to keep running. If he stopped running, it would get him._

 _He couldn't remember what it was, but it terrified him more than anything else in the world, in_ any _world. For the moment he was far ahead enough as to be unable to sense it, but he knew if he stopped or slowed for even a moment, it would be on him before he could so much as blink._

 _All around him was...not darkness, exactly. If he'd been surrounded by darkness, then that would have implied there was something there: darkness. Around him was... nothing. An absolute black void. Even on the absence of ground before him, there was nothing; he had no idea what he was running on. There was nothing here but him and the thing chasing him._

 _Except for one other thing._

 _Directly before him was a mirror. It was large, about eight feet tall and half as wide, surrounded by an ornate gold frame. It was perfectly polished and approaching at a rapid pace. Though it appeared free-standing, he knew that it was impossible to go around; the thing would be on him almost instantly if he did that._

 _He knew there was only one possible option. Bracing himself, he smashed headfirst through the mirror. As he did, he suddenly felt the presence of it directly near him. But no longer was it chasing him; suddenly it was in front of and beside him, passing by him through the mirror in the opposite direction. Taking a risk, he turned his head towards it and saw..._

 _And saw..._

* * *

Calvin woke with a start.

He looked around. Hobbes lay in the bed beside him, snoring away; based on the occasional growls, he was in the middle of one of his typical dreams about hunting small animals. The door to the room had been left open; from beyond it, Calvin could see the partially-disassembled Duel Runner standing in the living room, the light of its control panel glowing gently.

Calvin flopped back onto the bed. Every night for the last week he'd had that nightmare. It had been getting more and more frequent; now he was sometimes getting it more than once per night. Each time he knew nothing but the mirror and the terror of what was behind him; each time he woke up before he got a glimpse of the thing chasing him, or else couldn't remember it upon awakening.

He sighed and closed his eyes. Maybe now that he'd gotten the nightmare out of his system for the evening, he would be able to get a few hours of relaxing sleep...

A sudden crash broke the silence. Calvin sat bolt upright; in his half-asleep state he momentarily thought that he was going through the mirror again, and the terror at the thing chasing him returned. This terror lessened only slightly when he realized that whatever the sound was, it was real and had come from the apartment.

 _Please don't be what I think it was_ , thought Calvin. _Please let it just have been Moe breaking something while getting a midnight snack._

Slowly, Calvin crept out of bed and towards the door. On his way he grabbed his Duel Disk Plus and turned it on, using the light from its screen as an impromptu flashlight. Emerging into the main room, he saw that Susie was still fast asleep on the sofa bed and Moe was similarly asleep on his makeshift bed of couch cushions. That left no good possibilities for who had made the noise.

Calvin turned left...and had to do try very hard to keep from crying out with surprise.

A figure was vanishing through the door to the kitchen area. Calvin couldn't get a very good look; he just had time to glimpse the tail of a long black coat whipping through the doorway. But it was enough to know that something very, very bad was going on. One of the windows of the apartment was shattered, apparently marking the mystery intruder's method of entry.

Cautiously, making sure to make no noise, Calvin crept towards the doorway. Steeling his resolve, he leaned around the corner and looked in.

The intruder appeared to be a man, though the robe was so dark and covered so much of their body that Calvin supposed it could be a woman. Whoever they were, they were definitely an adult. They were crouched down by the table, apparently highly interested in one of the legs.

As Calvin watched, the figure reached up and rotated a segment of the leg 45 degrees; it moved smoothly, seeming to be independent of the rest of the leg. As the segment clicked into place, some kind of hidden drawer popped out of the main body of the table.

Calvin blinked in surprise. What was going on? Who was this intruder? How did they know about this secret compartment? Why did the kitchen table _have_ a secret compartment anyway? He decided to answer these nagging questions later; right now, it was time to take action. He cautiously crept forward, slowly raising the Duel Disk in preparation to bring it down on the intruder's head.

At that moment, the man- Calvin could now see that it was in fact a man- happened to straighten up, apparently to retrieve whatever it was from the drawer. As he did so, his field of vision apparently shifted enough to glimpse the spiky-haired six-year-old creeping toward him with a blunt object.

The figure lunged toward Calvin; he moved somewhat awkwardly but efficiently, rather like a zombie that had had a couple sessions with a chiropractor. Calvin ducked past him, then turned and raised the Duel Disk. He'd been planning on hurling it at the man's head and hoping it knocked him out, but at the last second he decided against it. This was partly because he was worried about damaging the device and partly because he had just gotten his first good look at the man and rather lost his nerve.

The man's dark hood had slid back during his attack. The man was bald- not just thinning, but full-on cue ball. His skin was deathly pale, and his eyes were a dazzling indigo that seemed to be staring into Calvin's soul. Upon his forehead was an elaborate tattoo almost like a rune, which seemed to be glowing with a brilliant orange-yellow light.

Calvin quickly reached into the drawer, hoping whatever was inside was some sort of weapon. "Stay back!" he exclaimed, brandishing the object. "Don't come any closer! I'm armed!" Then he got a look at what he was holding. "With a Ritual Monster, apparently!" he added.

Sure enough, he was holding a Duel Monsters card. The blue background surrounding the image indicated that it was indeed a Ritual Monster. Looking into the desk, Calvin saw that it also contained another card, presumably the corresponding Ritual Spell.

At that moment, something strange happened. As he turned back, a faint orange glow of the same color as the man's tattoo appeared around the card. The glow spread up Calvin's arm and across his entire body before vanishing, leaving no trace.

"...huh," remarked Calvin. "Well, that was certainly a thing that just happened."

The intruder had stopped in his tracks. He glared at Calvin with newfound caution; his expression seemed to be somehow disappointed. "So," he hissed, "the first of the Demons has chosen its Herald."

"Uh...yyyyes!" exclaimed Calvin. "I'm definitely the herald of a big scary demon, and you should run away!"

The intruder began to back out of the room, keeping his eyes on Calvin. "You have not heard the last of us," he hissed. "The Trapezium is eternal, and soon we shall use the power of the Demons to remake the world as we see fit. Until then...boy."

And with that, he turned, raced smoothly towards the hole in the window, and leapt out.

"I have a name, you know!" exclaimed Calvin.

"Calvin, what's going on?!"

Calvin turned. Susie was standing in the doorway, wearing the new pajamas she had bought during the first week. She was staring in terror at the broken window, having presumably just seen the intruder leap through it. She looked as if she had seen a ghost.

"There was a burglar," said Calvin, somewhat lamely; after all, Susie surely already knew that. "He had this weird glowing tattoo, and he was looking for this weird card or something and- did you know we had a secret compartment in our dinner table?"

"No," said Susie, "but we need to report this." She walked over to the phone and picked it up. "I'm calling the Manager."

"NO!" shouted Calvin; based on the thud from the other room, this finally managed to wake up Moe. "You know that guy's not going to do anything; odds are he'll just charge us for repairing the window and replacing the table. Then we may never find out what's up with this card!"

"Well, we have to do _something_!" exclaimed Susie.

"We will," said Calvin. "Call Richard; we can tell him what happened."

"Is he really going to be awake at this time of night?" asked Susie.

"Only one way to find out," said Calvin. He walked over, took the phone from Susie, and punched in Richard's number. He held the phone up to his ear and waited.

The phone had only rung twice when there was a click from the other end. "Hey Calvin, what is it?" asked Richard's familiar voice.

"Some guy just broke into our room," said Calvin.

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Richard; based on the shattering sound from the other end, it sounded like he'd just dropped something fragile. "Are you okay? Do you need to call the police? Is he still there?"

"No, don't worry, he's gone," said Calvin. "But you are not going to _believe_ how it all went down."

It took Calvin several minutes to explain, since he was having trouble keeping the details straight himself. He noticed that as he described the man, Richard became more and more silent, asking fewer questions. When Calvin got to the part about the card, however, Richard suddenly let out a yelp of surprise and hung up the phone. By this point Hobbes and Moe were both awake.

Two minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Opening it cautiously, Calvin was practically bowled over by an advancing Richard. "Where's the card you mentioned?!" he exclaimed. "Is it still safe?"

"Y-yeah!" exclaimed Calvin, not quite sure why Richard was so obsessed about this. "It's over in the kitchen."

Calvin led Richard into the kitchen. Moe was getting a snack from the refrigerator, letting the cold air out. A few weeks ago this would have bothered Calvin, but now he was just glad the former bully wasn't drinking the milk straight from the carton anymore. Susie was seated at the kitchen table, shivering slightly; she was still freaked out at the thought of the creepy stranger in the apartment.

Calvin showed Richard the card in question, which he had put back in the drawer along with its Ritual Spell and the bronze key. In the light Calvin could make out details of the card: its name was "Metal Demon Copper", and it was a Level 6 DARK-Attribute Ritual Monster. Richard stared at the card as if it was the most fascinating thing he had ever seen.

"Incredible!" he exclaimed. "I can't believe that I'm actually looking at one of the Metal Demon Cards!"

Calvin blinked in surprise. "Wait, what?" he asked. "You mean you know about this card? What is it? Why was it in here? What are the 'Metal Demon Cards'? Am I the last one to hear about this?"

"No," interjected Susie. "I haven't heard of them either, and I've been doing a ton of Duel Monsters research on the net!"

"I think I heard one of those porter guys talking about them," said Moe, "but I wasn't really listening."

Richard smiled slightly. "I can't believe you've lived in this hotel for almost a month and haven't heard the legend of the Metal Demon Cards!" he exclaimed. "It's part of the Duel Estates' claim to fame."

"Well, tell us!" exclaimed Calvin. Susie leaned in to hear the story too. Even Moe paused from his rummaging in the fridge to listen.

"Well," began Richard, "it all starts nearly thirty years ago, when the hotel was first opening. There was a grand party to celebrate its opening; all kinds of celebrities were invited. But there was one celebrity who showed up who hadn't been invited: Maximillion Pegasus, the creator of Duel Monsters himself!"

Calvin's jaw dropped. "Pegasus was HERE?!" he exclaimed.

Richard nodded. "Of course, you can't exactly say no when someone as influential as Pegasus decides to crash the party. Besides, he didn't seem to have any particular intention; he mostly just hung around and complemented the hotel, saying he would make sure to stay here if he was ever in town. He socialized for a few hours, then claimed that urgent business had come up and left as suddenly as he had arrived.

"But the thing is, when the security guards were examining the footage from the cameras that night, they noticed something very odd. At one point, Pegasus ducked out of the ballroom where the party was taking place. Over the next half-hour or so, he was sighted in various areas throughout the hotel, including entering the laundry room and walking through a hallway on the fourth floor. As soon as he re-entered the ballroom, he declared he had to leave... even though no one had apparently contacted him. To this day, Industrial Illusions denies the visit even happened."

Calvin nodded. "So where do these 'Metal Demon Cards' come in?" he asked.

"Well," said Richard, "officially they don't actually exist; Industrial Illusions worked hard to keep them a secret. You see, a very long time ago, while Pegasus was designing the very first generation of Duel Monsters cards, he went to a remote African village to research an ancient temple. However, upon his return home he became very sick. They say that, while he was lying in bed, he was wracked by dreams. In one dream, he saw a vision of five demonic beings whose skins shone with the gleam of metals; he would later claim the beings were the monster spirits who watched over the temple. When he recovered, he set to work creating a series of cards based on those spirits: the Metal Demon Cards."

"Oh yeah," snorted Calvin, "that's a great idea. Take the monster spirits that just nearly put you into a coma and make them into cards. How could that _possibly_ backfire horribly?"

"Fair point," admitted Richard. "Pegasus may have many talents, but he's absolutely dreadful at recognizing patterns. In any event, he came to his senses shortly after designing the cards. He sealed them up and hid them away. He refused to tell anyone where he hid them; even to this day, it remains Industrial Illusions' most guarded secret."

"So," said Calvin, rolling his eyes, "it's basically the Egyptian God Cards and the Sacred Beasts all over again."

Richard blinked. "The Sacred what now?" he asked.

"Nothing," said Calvin, filing that piece of info away for later. "So you're saying the Metal Demon Cards are hidden in this hotel?"

"That's certainly the rumor," said Richard. "And given that you just unearthed one of them, I'd say it's a fairly reliable rumor."

"Okay," said Susie, "but what about the freaky guy with the glowing tattoo on his forehead? Where does he fit into all this? And how did he know where to find the card?"

"Tell me," said Richard, "did the man you saw say who sent him?"

"He didn't mention any specific person," said Calvin, "but he did say something kind of weird. I think it was the name of his bosses or something; it was definitely a proper noun, and a weird one at that. It was something called…the Trapezium."

Richard nodded, his eyes dark and thoughtful. "I was afraid of that," he sighed.

"Another wrong crowd you used to be involved in?" guessed Calvin, semi-jokingly. His half-laughter was cut off by a stern look from Richard. He couldn't remember the duel historian ever looking so serious, even when they were about to go confront Scorpius.

"This is no laughing matter," he said. "The Trapezium isn't some gang fighting for control of Domino City. This isn't about saving one person, or stopping a burglar. If the Metal Demon Cards are being unearthed, and if the Trapezium is finally making its move… then the entire world may be in danger."

There was dead silence in the room after this line. No one seemed quite sure how to respond to it.

Finally, Susie broke the silence. "Could you…you know, provide some context for that statement?" she asked.

Richard nodded. "I should preface this with the statement that, like the history of the Metal Demon Cards themselves, most of what's known about the Trapezium is hearsay. I've combed through the stories and pieced together the accounts which seem the most accurate, and which are the most well-documented. Even then I have trouble believing some of the stories."

"According to my research, the Trapezium's history can be traced back approximately two thousand years, to the time of the Romans. Their founder was a Roman senator named Trapezius. While he was in power, he gave no outward signs of being anything but an upstanding politician; in fact, he was beloved by the people for frequently voting to expand personal freedoms. Trapezius was a reclusive man; upon returning to his home, he would retreat to a private sanctum in which not even his servants were allowed.

"Then one day, one of the servants happened to notice that the door had been left open a crack. She peered inside and saw Trapezius engaged in…horrifying things. The exact story has been lost, but the general gist seems to be that he was engaging in some sort of summoning ritual. Whatever it was, it was so horrifying that the maid ran screaming out into the streets, calling for help."

"Must've been pretty bad if it freaked out the Romans," remarked Calvin. "Those guys sacrificed cows and stuff. Religion was a _lot_ more intense back then; nowadays my parents just drag me to church twice a year so we can sit in uncomfortable chairs for an hour listening to the same speech we heard last year."

"Whatever the case," said Richard, "the townspeople heard her descriptions and were just as horrified. They formed a mob and drove Trapezius out of the city. The story became so wide-spread that he was ultimately exiled from Rome entirely. He is said to have fled south into the jungle, where he, some loyal servants who followed him, a few natives he converted to his faith, and others who had heard of him and followed him in search of power created an alliance- somewhere between a business and a cult. Its purpose was to spread Trapezius' visions and influence across the entire world…whether the world wanted it or not.

"Over the past two thousand years, the Trapezium- that very same organization- has continued to carry out that goal. They are believed to have infiltrated countless governments and organizations, subtly influencing them towards some mysterious end goal…a goal said to revolve around the power of the Metal Demons, and by proxy the cards which bind them."

There was a quiet as Richard finished his story. Everyone seemed lost in thought.

Susie was the first to speak. "It's pretty far-fetched," she remarked. "I mean, back in…where we lived before, there were plenty of conspiracy theories about secret organizations controlling history, and they were pretty much all garbage: the Illuminati, the Freemasons, lizard people, Area 51, the Bermuda Triangle, weather control, aliens building the pyramids…"

"Actually, that last one was true," remarked Calvin. "Albeit in a sort of roundabout way."

"In any event," continued Susie, "it's just kind of silly. I mean, after all these years, surely someone would have let the secret slip or betrayed the group!"

"That's where the most dangerous aspect of the Trapezium comes into play," said Richard solemnly. "You see, the Trapezium has remained secret for so long because they have no dedicated members…or at least, none capable of betraying them."

"…what," said Susie flatly.

"That symbol you saw on the face of the burglar," said Richard, "is the reason the Trapezium has survived to the modern day. It is the mark of an ancient power known as the Bloodmetal Binding, said to have been developed by Trapezius himself. A new member of the Trapezium is not a willing volunteer; they are merely a random civilian, determined by the Trapezium to have favorable qualities. He or she is captured, taken to a secure facility, and tortured until their mind is broken. The Binding is then used to create a second personality: one which serves the Trapezium. The person is then restored to their normal life; no one is aware of what has transpired, not even the person themselves. But within their mind is an agent of the Trapezium, reading to take control upon being given the go-ahead."

Richard looked Susie dead in the eye. "You want to know why the Trapezium remains secret from the general public? Why no member has ever betrayed the organization or let slip the secret? Because while their agents are not in action, not even _they_ know who they are."

Susie blinked. "Ah," she said.

"Wait a minute," said Calvin. "Then how do _you_ know about all this? If they're that secret, surely they'd be invisible."

"No security system is perfect," said Richard. "Every once in a while someone will see one of those runes, just like you did. Rumors spread; secret meetings are overheard. But that's the scary thing: no one has any idea who members of the Trapezium are."

"So…any of us in this room could be members?" asked Calvin.

"Quite possibly," said Richard.

"...well, that's not terrifying at all," Calvin remarked quietly.

"But what's this all got to do with the Metal Demon Cards?" asked Susie. "And what was that he said about Heralds?"

"The Trapezium have a prophecy, or so the old legends say," said Richard. "It's said that in the days before the end of the world, each of the Metal Demons shall choose a Herald to wield its power. The power of the Herald can change between people, but can never be destroyed. And once all five Heralds stand together under the banner of the Trapezium, they will use that power to lay waste to the modern world, and create a new one in its ashes."

Calvin considered this. "So let me guess," he said. "In modern terms, that means that each card binds to the first person who claims it, which in the case of this card was me; and if the Trapezium gets ahold of all five cards, they'll destroy the world."

"That's my theory, at any rate," said Richard.

There was a long silence following these words.

"So what do we do about it?" asked Susie, causing everyone in the room to turn to look at her. "How do we, like...stop the Trapezium from getting the cards?"

Richard seemed to consider this. "Well," he said, "if the legends are accurate- and the sequence of events Calvin just described seems to imply that they are- then the best course of action should be to try and find the cards ourselves."

"No!" interjected Calvin. "That's a _terrible_ idea! The whole reason the cards were hidden in the first place was so that _no one could use them_! Wouldn't it make more sense to just hide this one somewhere else so that they can't find it again?"

Richard shook his head. "I understand why you think that," he said, "and normally you'd absolutely be right. But remember what I said about the Heralds?"

"Yeah," said Susie. "Each of the Metal Demons has an associated Herald; the power can be transferred but not destroyed."

"Exactly," said Richard. "The thing is, the Metal Demon Cards have a way of binding to their Herald, i.e. to the first person who finds them. Once a Herald has been chosen, the only way to take the card from them would be for them to give it up willingly, or for someone to defeat them in a duel. You may have noticed that the Trapezium agent who broke in didn't try to take the card after it chose Calvin as its Herald; that's because he knew he _couldn't_ take it anymore. Think of them like the Keystones from _Enchantment Girl Academy_ Season 1."

"What if one of the Heralds died?" asked Calvin. "Wouldn't that break the cycle and make the card free game?"

Richard shook his head. "Then the power would be transferred randomly," he said. "Someone else would gain that power, and the card would bind itself to them."

Susie mulled this over. "So what you're saying," she said, "is that if we find the Metal Demon Cards before the Trapezium do, we could keep them from getting hold of them and head their plans off before they have a chance to get started!"

"That's about the scale of it," said Richard.

"Okay, one sec," said Calvin. "Group meeting, now. Richard, would you mind stepping out for a moment?"

"Not at all," said Richard. Without another word, he turned and walked out the door to the room, closing it behind him.

"I can never read that guy," remarked Hobbes.

"What's the problem?" asked Susie.

"The problem," said Calvin, "is that this isn't the plan. Did you forget that we're not _from_ this universe? Our priority should be to finish working on the time machine, get back through the rift to our universe, and get the hell back home!"

"Really, Calvin?" asked Susie, crossing her arms. " _You_ of all people are playing the 'It's not our problem' card? Weren't you the one who was willing to volunteer for an electro-shock duel in order to save someone he didn't even like?"

"Yeah, that's not like you to just say 'not my problem'," said Hobbes. "Didn't you refuse to do a Genocide Run of _Undertale_ because you felt too guilty about hurting Papyrus?"

"I TOLD YOU NEVER TO TELL ANYONE THAT!" shouted Calvin. "And I'm not saying it's not our problem; hell, this card was found in our apartment! It's no one's problem more than ours! What I'm _saying_ is that we should focus on the time machine _because_ it'll help! If we go back through the rift, the power of the first Herald goes with us, and more than likely so does the card! The Trapezium will literally never be able to get their hands on it; it'll be in another universe!"

The group simultaneously blinked.

"Yeah, see?" said Calvin. "That's what you get for assuming."

There was a pause while everyone considered this. Finally, Hobbes spoke up.

"Nope," he said. "Won't work."

" _What do you MEAN it won't work?!_ " exclaimed Calvin angrily.

"I may not be a genius when it comes to quantum physics," said Hobbes, "but I've picked up a thing or two from you about how the time machine works. Didn't you say that time travel violates the standard law of conservation of energy?"

Calvin was surprised that Hobbes had remembered that detail; the tiger normally dozed off during Calvin's long technical speeches. "That's right," he said. "When you factor in time travel, traditional mechanics breaks down; you need to consider the flow of energy through four-dimensional space. But so what?"

"So stop me if I'm wrong," said Hobbes, "but if we went back in time, wouldn't our matter appear to vanish from the universe?"

"Basically, yes," said Calvin. "We'd effectively be creating an energy debt that would be retroactively repaid when we arrived in the past."

"Richard said the cards' power transfers when the Herald dies," said Hobbes. "If all of your matter apparently vanished at once, wouldn't the card assume you died and transfer its power to someone else?"

Calvin considered this for a long moment.

"Theoretically," he said. "I'd need to study this energy, examine how it works in more detail...but I guess that's possible."

"Then until further notice," said Hobbes flatly, "Richard's plan is the best idea."

Calvin sighed. "Fine," he said, "but I'm still gonna keep working on the time machine in my spare time. Getting home is still a priority, and my idea might still be viable depending on how this thing works."

"Sure, keep working on it!" said Susie. "We never said you couldn't! What's with you today? You seem really out of it."

"Nothing," said Calvin. "Just...the stress of the break-in, _and_ having that nightmare yet again..."

"You know, you could always just tell us what it's about," remarked Susie. "We could help you deal with it or..."

"It's fine," said Calvin. "I can handle it." He strode over to the front door and opened it. "You can come back inside now," he said.

Richard, who had apparently been examining the holographic display across the hall from Room 631 with great interest, turned and reentered the room. "So what have you been up to?" he asked as Calvin closed the door behind him.

"We've decided to go with your plan," said Calvin. "How exactly do we go about searching for the other Metal Demon Cards? I mean, this first one was just hidden in our dining room table; who _knows_ where the others are?"

"Well, we know where to start," said Richard. "We have the records of where Pegasus was sighted during that night thirty years ago; we can start by searching the areas near where he was seen. We know he showed up in the laundry room, so we'll start there."

Calvin sighed. "Sure, why not," he said. "Now can we go back to bed please? It's like four in the morning and it is simultaneously too early and too late to deal with this stuff."

"Fair enough," chuckled Richard. "I'm sure the fate of the world can wait another few hours. I'll see you all down in the lobby at nine, how's that?"

"Sure, whatever," said Calvin.

The three said goodbye to Richard (Hobbes having already drifted unnoticed back into the bedroom), and the duel historian headed back to his own room. Moe declared that he was going to keep watch on the window in case the thief came back; Calvin wasn't 100% sure what he was going to do against a trained adult member of an ancient conspiracy, but he figured the guy probably had a better chance than the other humans and was more willing to fight than Hobbes. Susie curled back up on the sofa; she fell asleep surprisingly quickly considering how on edge she'd been the whole time.

Calvin slowly walked back into the bedroom. He examined the Metal Demon Card once more; by now he had already retrieved the Ritual Spell from the drawer as well. He sat down on the edge of the bed and read the card's text once again.

"Metal Demon Copper," he read aloud. "This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set; this card can only be Ritual Summoned by the effect of 'Contract with the Metal Demons'." He looked at the other card; sure enough, it was the card specified by the effects. There was more lore on each card, but he decided it could wait until morning. He tucked the cards under his pillow for safekeeping, lay down, and almost instantly fell asleep.

It seemed the universe had decided it had thrown enough at him that night, because he didn't have the nightmare again.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, that took kind of a turn, didn't it?**

 **So yeah, here we have the first major story arc! I have to admit, I'm kind of excited to see how this plays out; I've had this idea for a very long time, and I can't wait to see what Kitty and I manage to do with it! This is unfortunately the last of the material we have saved up, so I have no idea how long it'll take to put out the next episode, but hopefully it won't take as long as Episode 09 did! See you guys next time; Kitty and I are off to go work on _Duelist Foundation_ , because that story hasn't updated in forever! See you guys then! **


End file.
